Crusoe, an AI infrastructure provider, and Aalo Atomics, a nuclear reactor developer based in Austin, Texas, announced a partnership on July 30 to build what the companies call the first nuclear powered AI data center. The project pairs Aalo's fully modular nuclear reactors, known as XMRs, with Crusoe's cloud computing infrastructure.
Under the agreement, Aalo will initially power a Crusoe Spark modular data center running Crusoe Cloud in 2027 at Idaho National Laboratory as a proof of concept. The companies plan to later deploy Aalo Pods and 50 megawatt electric XMR power plants at Crusoe data centers by the end of 2029.
The partnership builds on a milestone Aalo reached earlier this year. Aalo Atomics was one of four companies to reach criticality by a deadline set under the Department of Energy's Reactor Pilot Program. Aalo has already begun work on a second reactor at Idaho National Laboratory, located next to its Aalo-X test reactor, that is designed to produce electricity for an on-site Crusoe Spark data center.
"We are now the only nuclear technology company to design and build a nuclear reactor fueled to produce 10 megawatts of electricity, an achievement that positions Aalo as the premier power provider for the modern data center," said Aalo Atomics CEO Matt Loszak.
Aalo Atomics, founded in 2023, has secured more than $136 million in funding from investors including Valor Equity Partners, Hitachi Ventures, and NRG Energy. Crusoe describes itself as the industry's first vertically integrated AI infrastructure provider, building AI optimized data centers powered by large scale energy sources.
The deal reflects a broader trend of technology companies turning to nuclear power, including small modular reactors and microreactors, to meet rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence workloads.
Source: Crusoe (GlobeNewswire) - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/07/30/3336005/0/en/crusoe-and-aalo-atomics-form-strategic-partnership-with-goal-of-deploying-first-nuclear-powered-ai-factory.html