Crusoe has entered into a strategic partnership with modular nuclear reactor developer Aalo Atomics to build and deploy the industry’s first nuclear-powered AI Factory data center. The collaborative initiative aims to validate the operational effectiveness, scalability, and clean energy benefits of small modular reactors (SMRs) when paired with compute-intensive artificial intelligence workloads.
Demonstrating Next-Generation Clean Energy Infrastructure
Under the initial phase of the deployment roadmap, Aalo Atomics will supply nuclear energy to a modular Crusoe Spark™ data center running Crusoe Cloud. The proof-of-concept facility is scheduled to begin operations at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in 2027.
Following the validation phase at INL, both companies plan to scale the deployment by integrating Aalo Pods and 50 MWe XMR nuclear power plants across Crusoe’s commercial data center campus portfolio by the end of 2029.
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“The next generation of AI infrastructure demands power that is reliable, abundant, clean and at scale, and Aalo’s nuclear reactors are built to meet that need,” said Cully Cavness, Co-Founder, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Crusoe. “One of Crusoe’s core values is to ‘bend the arc of energy toward sustainability,’ and within that value we embrace the principle of using Crusoe’s market position to support and accelerate energy innovation. In line with our core values, we look forward to Aalo and Crusoe jointly demonstrating to the industry the first AI data center powered by a small modular nuclear reactor.”
“As one of only four companies to reach criticality by President Trump’s deadline for companies in the DOE Reactor Pilot Program, we are now well positioned for not only the full power operation of our 10 MWe Aalo-X reactor, but also the deployment of the Aalo Pod to power commercial data centers,” said Matt Loszak, CEO, Aalo Atomics. “We are now the only nuclear technology company to design and build a nuclear reactor fueled to produce 10MW of electricity – an achievement that positions Aalo as the premier power provider for the modern data center.”
Advancing On-Site SMR Energy Infrastructure
Aalo Atomics has already commenced construction on its second nuclear reactor unit, located adjacent to the existing Aalo-X test reactor site at INL. This system will test a commercial-scale nuclear installation that produces electricity directly for an on-site Crusoe Spark™ modular data center, creating an operational blueprint for zero-emission, high-density AI compute infrastructure.