{"slug": "chey-gates-deepen-nuclear-ties-for-ai-power", "title": "Chey, Gates deepen nuclear ties for AI power", "summary": "SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won and TerraPower Chair Bill Gates met Friday in Seoul to discuss next-generation nuclear power and energy demand from AI data centers, expanding their relationship beyond investment into strategic cooperation. SK Innovation and SK Inc. invested $250 million in TerraPower in 2022, becoming its second-largest shareholder, and TerraPower's Natrium advanced reactor in Wyoming received a construction permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March, the first for a commercial advanced reactor.", "body_md": "SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won and TerraPower Chair Bill Gates have met twice over the past year, signaling that their companies’ relationship is expanding beyond investment into a strategic partnership aimed at meeting soaring electricity demand in the AI era.\n\nChey and Gates met over dinner Friday at Seonhyewon in central Seoul to discuss next-generation nuclear power, energy demand from AI data centers and potential global cooperation, according to industry sources Monday.\n\nThe meeting followed their talks during Gates’ visit to Korea in August 2025, reflecting increasingly close ties between SK and the US nuclear technology company.\n\nSK Innovation and holding company SK Inc. jointly invested $250 million in TerraPower in 2022, becoming its second-largest shareholder.\n\nAt the time, TerraPower had yet to introduce a commercial small modular reactor. Chey nevertheless viewed an early investment in advanced nuclear technology as necessary, given the expected surge in AI-related electricity consumption and SK Innovation’s broader electrification strategy, according to sources.\n\nWhat began as a financial investment has since broadened into cooperation on TerraPower’s US project, the global SMR market and potential energy solutions for AI data centers.\n\nTerraPower is developing its Natrium advanced reactor in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The project combines a fourth-generation sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten-salt energy storage system.\n\nThe stored heat allows the plant to adjust electricity output according to demand, helping offset the intermittency of renewable energy. That flexibility could make the technology suitable for power-intensive facilities such as AI data centers, which require a stable round-the-clock electricity supply.\n\nThe project received a construction permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March, becoming the first commercial advanced reactor project to secure such approval.\n\nThe regulatory milestone is expected to shift cooperation between SK Innovation and TerraPower from investment toward business development and project execution.\n\nSK Innovation already operates across much of the power infrastructure value chain, including direct liquefied natural gas imports, LNG-fired power generation, batteries and energy storage systems.\n\nThe company aims to combine those capabilities with TerraPower’s Natrium technology to develop integrated energy solutions tailored to AI data centers.\n\nUnder the envisioned model, LNG power plants and energy storage systems would provide electricity relatively quickly during the initial stage of a project. SMRs would later be added to provide a stable, carbon-free baseload power source over the longer term.\n\nhyejin2@heraldcorp.com", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chey-gates-deepen-nuclear-ties-for-ai-power", "canonical_source": "https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10843129", "published_at": "2026-08-17 06:54:37+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-17 07:12:55.022771+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["SK Group", "Chey Tae-won", "TerraPower", "Bill Gates", "SK Innovation", "SK Inc.", "Natrium", "US Nuclear Regulatory Commission"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chey-gates-deepen-nuclear-ties-for-ai-power", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chey-gates-deepen-nuclear-ties-for-ai-power.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chey-gates-deepen-nuclear-ties-for-ai-power.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chey-gates-deepen-nuclear-ties-for-ai-power.jsonld"}}