The Financial Times (FT) reported that Meta’s plan to build an AI-powered data center using nuclear energy in the U.S. has been hindered due to the discovery of a rare species of bee on the project’s land.
In fact, the plan to secure an electricity supply agreement from a nuclear power plant for Meta’s data center has faced several challenges from environmental groups, with the discovery of the bee being just the tip of the iceberg.
Mark Zuckerberg himself informed all Meta employees that the discovery of the rare bee near the data center project would complicate matters further. This is seen as a major setback for Meta in the AI race, especially as rivals like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have recently signed agreements with nuclear power plants to supply electricity for their AI data centers.
It’s important to note that an AI chatbot query consumes ten times more electricity than a standard Google search. As a result, nuclear energy is becoming the preferred option for major tech companies today. Although it requires high investment costs and long construction timelines, nuclear plants provide a stable and continuous power supply 24/7, unaffected by terrain, weather, or other factors, compared to other energy sources.
However, many environmental activists have raised concerns about the risks of radiation buildup, which could be harmful to local communities and pollute the environment. Local residents are also worried that these data centers could deplete electricity and water resources and cause pollution.
The Nuclear Race
In September 2024, Microsoft announced plans to revive the abandoned Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Amazon paid $650 million to establish a data center next to the Susquehanna Steam Electric nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Last month, Google announced that it had ordered 6-7 small modular nuclear reactors from the startup Kairos Power, making it the first tech company to operate new nuclear power plants.
In this context, Mark Zuckerberg is falling behind. The Meta CEO is under immense pressure to prove that the enormous investment in AI will yield profits. The capital costs for Meta’s server and data center operations, as well as its AI research and development projects, are rising, and if these do not deliver satisfactory results, Zuckerberg will face the wrath of shareholders.
Earlier, Zuckerberg had pledged that Meta would be the first Big Tech company to run AI on nuclear-powered electricity and would have the largest nuclear power plant supplying electricity to its data centers.
