(Bloomberg) -- Oklo Inc., a developer of advanced nuclear technology backed by billionaire Sam Altman, has agreed to supply as much as 12 gigawatts of electricity to data center operator Switch Inc. to help satisfy technology companies’ booming demand for power.

The companies signed a non-binding agreement that runs through 2044 and will support Oklo’s plans to build and operate its Aurora small modular reactors, according to a statement Wednesday. Oklo expects to start delivering electricity by the end of the decade, and Chief Executive Officer Jacob DeWitte said the price would be about $100 a megawatt-hour.

Data centers are one of the key reasons US power demand is expected to jump 16% over the next five years, after decades of flat usage, Grid Strategies has forecast. Numerous technology companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. have signed agreements in recent months to power their systems with nuclear energy, and Oklo’s deal with Switch is one of the biggest to date. 

Data centers are “actually kind of perfect for new nuclear,” DeWitte said in an interview. “They have a massive appetite for power.” Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is Oklo’s chairman.

Still, the atomic deals are all contingent on the reactor companies completing their designs.

Oklo is one of dozens of companies developing small modular reactors, or SMRs, that would be produced in factories and assembled in the field. The strategy is expected to make power plants faster and cheaper to build, but remains untested. None are in service yet in the US, and few are expected to be completed this decade. Oklo may be one of the first out of the gate, and has said its first system may be running in 2027. 

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.