Startup plans Utah nuclear-powered data center on public land

UTAH, EMERY COUNTY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

Valar Atomics Secures Land for Utah ‘Gigasite’: 450 Nuclear Reactors to Power AI Data Centers by 2028

A two-year-old nuclear energy startup, Valar Atomics, has secured a 50-year lease for up to 640 acres of public land in Utah to build a massive nuclear-powered data center campus, marking a bold bet on small modular reactors (SMRs) to fuel the AI boom.

The project, dubbed a "gigasite," will eventually expand to over 9,500 acres, hosting more than 450 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) capable of delivering electricity, industrial heat, and hydrogen production—all while operating independently of the national grid.

The approval by the Utah Trust Lands Administration in September 2026 accelerates Valar’s vision of self-sustaining energy-compute hubs, addressing both the surging power demands of AI data centers and the water scarcity challenges of arid regions like Utah.

The company’s Ward 250 microreactor, the first Department of Energy-authorized reactor built outside a national laboratory, achieved fueled criticality on June 18, 2026, and generated its first electricity just two weeks later—powering an Nvidia Blackwell AI chip during a live demonstration in July.

With a $1 billion Series B funding round in August 2026 pushing its valuation to $6 billion, Valar is now poised to scale its modular reactor approach, deploying standardized units incrementally across its Carbon and Emery County campuses.

Valar’s strategy diverges sharply from traditional grid-dependent data centers by integrating reactors directly with computing infrastructure, eliminating transmission losses and grid constraints. The company’s HTGRs, designed for continuous operation, also produce excess heat that can be repurposed for hydrogen synthesis and synthetic fuel production, diversifying revenue streams beyond electricity sales.

Early commercial power sales are targeted for 2027, with full operations expected by 2028—a timeline underscored by the company’s February 2026 airlift of the Ward 250 reactor to Utah and its September 2025 groundbreaking in Emery County.

The project’s scale and ambition reflect broader industry shifts toward nuclear-powered AI infrastructure, particularly in regions where renewable energy intermittency and water scarcity pose challenges. Valar’s gigasite model aligns with global trends, including Microsoft’s recent investments in nuclear data centers and Google’s partnerships with SMR developers.

However, the Utah project’s reliance on public land leases and modular reactor deployment raises questions about regulatory oversight, environmental impact assessments, and potential competition with Utah’s existing energy sector, including its burgeoning renewable and fossil fuel industries.

For Malaysia, where energy security and digital infrastructure remain critical priorities, Valar’s Utah experiment offers a case study in how advanced nuclear technologies could reshape data center economics. While Malaysia has yet to announce similar large-scale nuclear data center projects, the country’s push for low-carbon energy—including the 2023 Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) plans to explore SMRs—and its status as a regional AI hub make it a potential adopter of such integrated energy-compute solutions.

The success or challenges of Valar’s gigasite could influence Malaysia’s own nuclear energy strategies, particularly as the nation seeks to balance rising data center demand with sustainable power sources.

Valar’s next steps include finalizing reactor deployment plans across the leased 640 acres, with expansion contingent on further land approvals and regulatory clearances. The company’s roadmap hinges on demonstrating the commercial viability of its HTGRs at scale, a milestone that could redefine the economics of AI-driven industries worldwide.

With test-basis power sales slated for 2027, the Utah gigasite will serve as a proving ground for whether nuclear-powered data centers can outpace traditional grid-dependent models in both efficiency and sustainability.

Related: Valar Atomics