Nuclear reactor developer X-Energy announced on Thursday that it has raised $1.02 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), priced significantly above its initial expectations. The company sold 44.3 million shares at $23 each, surpassing the marketed range of $16 to $19 per share.
The successful debut marks a sharp recovery for the US IPO market following a volatile March. Investor appetite for nuclear energy is surging as the rise of artificial intelligence and cloud computing creates an unprecedented demand for reliable, carbon-free electricity.
X-Energy specializes in small modular reactor (SMR) technology, specifically its Xe-100 reactor, which utilizes helium as a coolant. SMRs are designed to be more cost-efficient and faster to deploy than traditional large-scale nuclear plants. The company also manufactures proprietary fuel for advanced nuclear systems.
The Maryland-based firm is a key partner for Amazon, which invested approximately $500 million in the developer in 2024. The tech giant is looking to SMRs to provide a steady baseload of clean energy for its rapidly expanding global data center footprint.
This public listing comes three years after X-Energy scrapped a planned merger with a blank-check firm due to poor market conditions. Having now secured a billion-dollar valuation through a traditional IPO, the company is scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “XE” this Friday.
J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, and Moelis served as the lead joint book-running managers for the offering.
