I’ve spent the last two weeks writing about AI’s insatiable appetite for capital. The debt. The layoffs. The earnings beats that still sent stocks lower because investors couldn’t stomach the spending plans.
Today I want to talk about something different. Something most of the financial media is still sleeping on.
AI doesn’t just need chips and code. It needs power. A lot of it. U.S. data center electricity demand is projected to grow from 176 terawatt hours to as high as 580 terawatt hours by 2028. That’s a more than 3x increase in just two years. The grid can’t handle it. Solar and wind can’t provide the always-on baseload power AI requires.
There’s only one energy source that can actually solve this problem at scale: nuclear. And Washington knows it. Trump signed four executive orders to quadruple U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050. Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, and Amazon have all signed nuclear power agreements tied to AI infrastructure. Last week, Oklo announced a partnership directly with Nvidia and the Los Alamos National Laboratory to advance nuclear-powered AI factories.
The institutions are moving. Here are three ways to play it — from conservative to speculative.
Cameco Corporation (CCJ)
If you want exposure to nuclear without the speculative risk, Cameco is where you start. It’s the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, operating the highest-grade uranium mines on the planet from its base in Saskatoon, Canada.
Cameco doesn’t build reactors. It mines and sells uranium fuel. Every nuclear plant that gets built, restarted, or keeps running needs what Cameco produces. The company has long-term contracts with utilities around the world, which means its revenue isn’t just tied to spot prices — it has visibility years into the future.
Uranium’s spot price hit $84.25 at the end of March, and Citi analysts expect it to reach $100 to $125 per pound this year. That directly benefits Cameco’s margins. The stock trades around $114, with analyst consensus targets near $140 — roughly 23% upside from here. Motley Fool recently called it “one of 2026’s biggest winners.”
This is the pick for investors who want the nuclear theme without the volatility of smaller names. Cameco has real production, real contracts, and real earnings. For the conservative part of your portfolio, it’s the most straightforward way to own the nuclear buildout.
Oklo Inc. (OKLO)
Oklo is the speculative play. Let me be upfront about that. The company has no operating reactors yet and won’t generate meaningful revenue for several years. But if you’ve been paying attention to who’s backing this company, the speculation starts to look a lot more interesting.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is Oklo’s executive chairman. Last week, the company announced a three-way partnership with Nvidia and the Los Alamos National Laboratory to advance nuclear fuel validation and AI-enabled research in support of what Oklo is calling “nuclear-powered AI factories.” This isn’t marketing. It ties directly into the federal government’s Genesis Mission for advanced nuclear infrastructure.
Oklo’s Aurora reactor design runs on recycled nuclear fuel, which addresses one of the biggest objections to nuclear expansion: waste. The company is building a fuel recycling and fabrication business alongside the reactor itself. The DOE selected its Pluto reactor fuel program under the Reactor Pilot Program.
The stock trades around $65-66, up 43% in the last month. Analyst price targets sit near $96, suggesting another 46% from here if the thesis plays out. The upside is real. So is the risk. This is a 5 to 10-year story, and I’d size it accordingly — a smaller position you’re comfortable holding through volatility.
Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG)
If Cameco is the conservative pick and Oklo is the speculative one, Constellation is the middle ground. It’s an operating nuclear utility with real cash flow, real customers, and a direct line into the AI power demand story.
In 2024, Constellation signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant — yes, that Three Mile Island — specifically to power Microsoft’s AI data centers. The plant, renamed Crane Clean Energy Center, is being brought back online to supply carbon-free baseload power to the grid. Microsoft gets the power. Constellation gets a guaranteed long-term contract.
The company recently acquired Calpine, which adds significant natural gas generation capacity and makes Constellation the largest clean energy producer in the United States. It just declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4265 per share — a sign of financial confidence. The stock trades around $387, with analyst consensus near $382 to $387.
The lack of obvious upside from current analyst targets is actually a feature here, not a bug. Analysts have priced in the business as it stands. If the Three Mile Island restart goes smoothly and AI power demand continues to grow, those estimates will move higher. This is the nuclear play for investors who want real earnings, real dividends, and real exposure — without betting on something that hasn’t built its first reactor yet.
Three different companies. Three different risk profiles. All pointing at the same thing: the world needs a lot more nuclear power, and the money is starting to follow.
— Tom
