Plus, the U.K. government says it’s secured more than $8 billion in combined commitments to build data centers from four U.S. businesses. And NASA’s mission to Europa blasts off. Zoe Thomas hosts.
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[00:00:16] Here's your TNB Tech Minute for Monday, October 14th. I'm Zoe Thomas for The Wall Street Journal.
[00:00:22] In a first-of-its-kind deal, Google is backing the construction of seven small nuclear power reactors in the U.S. and is committed to purchasing the power generated.
[00:00:33] The deal with nuclear energy startup Kairos Power aims to help supply Google's growing need for electricity to power artificial intelligence and jumpstart a U.S. nuclear revival.
[00:00:44] The companies say the agreement targets adding 500 megawatts of nuclear power starting at the end of the decade.
[00:00:51] That's about enough to power a mid-sized city or one AI data center campus.
[00:00:57] Kairos plans to deliver the reactors between 2030 and 2035.
[00:01:01] Financial terms weren't disclosed. The location or locations for the project site hasn't been determined, the companies say.
[00:01:09] The U.K. government says it's secured a combined investment of more than $8 billion in data centers from four American tech companies.
[00:01:19] The commitments are the latest from U.S. businesses expanding their presence and services overseas to gain an edge in the AI race.
[00:01:26] Britain's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said the investment pledges came from Cyrus One, ServiceNow, Cloud HQ and CoreWeave.
[00:01:35] The country's technology secretary said the pledges came after the government designated data centers as critical infrastructure for Britain's economy.
[00:01:44] And a historic mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa has blasted off.
[00:01:50] Scientists are aiming to assess whether Europa has the conditions necessary to sustain life.
[00:01:55] NASA considers this moon to be one of the most promising places to look for life in our solar system.
[00:02:01] Previous missions have observed that its icy crust likely floats on a subsurface ocean, with more than twice the water of all of Earth's oceans combined.
[00:02:11] The uncrewed spacecraft is named Europa Clipper.
[00:02:14] When fully deployed, it's the largest spacecraft ever built by NASA for a planetary mission.
[00:02:20] It's expected to settle into orbit around Jupiter in 2030, following a nearly 2 billion-mile journey.
[00:02:27] For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Tuesday's Tech News Briefing podcast.