Nuclear energy startup X-energy has commenced its investor roadshow, targeting a share price between $16 and $19 in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Should it list at the top of that range, the company could raise approximately $814 million.
The move comes as a wave of new fission power companies, including X-energy, benefit from a significant resurgence of interest in nuclear energy. This is driven primarily by skyrocketing electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centres and broader societal electrification efforts.
Amazon's Major Backing and Power Purchase
Amazon is a cornerstone investor in X-energy, having led a $500 million Series C-1 funding round. The technology giant has also committed to purchasing up to 5 gigawatts of nuclear power from the startup by the year 2039, providing a significant future revenue stream.
The IPO represents a crucial milestone for X-energy's investors, who have collectively injected around $1.8 billion into the company, according to data from PitchBook. This public offering follows a failed 2023 attempt to go public via a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a deal that was cancelled as the SPAC market cooled.
Technology and Legal Challenges
X-energy's core technology is a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). Its design uses uranium encased in ceramic and carbon spheres, cooled by helium gas, which then transfers heat to a steam turbine to generate electricity. This fuel type, known as TRISO (Tristructural Isotropic), is considered safer than traditional nuclear fuels but is not yet in widespread commercial use.
In its SEC filing, the company revealed it is entangled in an ongoing patent dispute. X-energy alleges that the now-bankrupt Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) infringed on its fuel fabrication patents. The matter remains unresolved following USNC's 2024 bankruptcy and the subsequent formation of Standard Nuclear from its assets.
The Race for Small Modular Reactors
Globally, the development of new nuclear reactors has largely stalled outside of China, hampered by severe delays and budget overruns. A new generation of startups, including X-energy, is betting that smaller, modular reactor designs can overcome the challenges that have plagued traditional, large-scale nuclear projects.
While no small modular reactor (SMR) company has yet completed a power plant, several are racing toward a key technical milestone: achieving criticality, the point at which a nuclear fission reaction becomes self-sustaining. Many are aiming for a July 4 deadline set during the previous Trump administration, though this target is widely seen as ambitious.
The Long Road to Profitability
Analysts caution that the journey from a working reactor to a profitable power plant will be lengthy. Mass manufacturing is expected to reduce costs, but such processes typically take about a decade to yield significant financial returns. Furthermore, the planned production volumes for these new reactors may still be insufficient to fully realise the economies of scale associated with true mass manufacturing.
X-energy projects that once its reactor production reaches maturity—referred to by experts as the "Nth-of-a-kind" stage—it can reduce costs by 30% compared to its first reactor. The final cost of that first-of-a-kind reactor will be a critical factor watched closely by investors, as it could determine the company's long-term viability.