Cathie Wood joined the rush to bet on nuclear power as an energy source for rising artificial intelligence processing demand, investing around $1.89 million in Oklo on Tuesday. Oklo is the nuclear power startup backed by OpenAI head Sam Altman.
Daily trading disclosures showed Wood's Ark Autonomous Tech fund purchased 214,461 Oklo shares on Tuesday for $1.89 million, based on Oklo stock's closing price of 8.81. The top holdings in ARKQ are Tesla with 14.43% weight, Teradyne at 11% weight and Kratos Defense & Security at 8.8% of the portfolio.
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Meanwhile, Oklo stock surged early, hitting an intraday high of 9.76, before settling up 0.7% to 8.88 during market action on Wednesday. On Tuesday, OKLO advanced 1% to 8.81. The stock has been anything but highflying, with its shares now trading below their 2021 IPO price of 10.
However, the IBD-tracked Energy-Alternative/Other industry group has gained around 17% in 2024, led by nuclear power providers Constellation Energy, an S&P 500 component, and Vistra.
Cathie Wood: AI, Energy Demand And Oklo
Artificial intelligence — and the data centers needed to train the systems — are expected to boost energy demand throughout this decade. In the U.S., McKinsey & Co. projects that data center energy demand will grow around 10% every year through 2030.
Additionally, in 2022, the 2,700 U.S. data centers consumed around 4% of the country's total electricity generated, according to the International Energy Agency. The agency projects that by 2026, such centers will make up 6% of electricity use.
Many technology companies are investing in or partnering with nuclear power providers to ensure energy supplies for their data centers.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Oklo agreed in May to supply data centers being developed by Wyoming Hyperscale with 100 megawatts of clean power for the next 20 years.
Oklo — which has yet to deliver an operating, commercial reactor — is also working on advanced fuel-recycling technologies. It works in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. National Laboratories. Altman, the OpenAI CEO, serves as Oklo chairman and has since 2015.
The status of future nuclear power supplies is highly changeable and remains very uncertain. In 2022, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied Oklo's application for its Aurora powerhouse in Idaho. The commission cited a lack of safety information. Last October, the Air Force rescinded its intent to award Oklo a contract for a microreactor pilot program to power a base in Alaska.
Oklo, confident that federal regulators will approve the Aurora powerhouse project, says it is on track to first deploy energy in 2027. The company says more deals are in the pipeline and it has "tremendous uptake of customer interest."
Oklo stock has a 15 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. Shares have a 10 Relative Strength Rating and a 1 EPS Rating.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
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