Nuclear startup X-energy began its investor roadshow Wednesday, aiming for an IPO with a target price between $16 and $19 per share. According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, if the company lists at the high end of this range, it could raise about $814 million.
X-energy and similar companies are benefiting from a renewed interest in fission power. Demand for electricity has surged due to the growth of AI data centers and increasing electrification across society. Amazon is one of X-energy’s biggest supporters. The tech giant led a $500 million Series C-1 funding round and has committed to buying as much as 5 gigawatts of nuclear power from the company by 2039.
This IPO will likely be a relief for X-energy’s investors, who have put about $1.8 billion into the company, according to PitchBook. The startup previously tried to go public through a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), but the deal was canceled in 2023 as the SPAC trend faded.
X-energy’s reactor is a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor. Inside, uranium, enclosed in ceramic and carbon spheres, is cooled by helium gas. This gas then transfers heat to a steam turbine loop to generate electricity. This fuel design, known as TRISO, is expected to be safer than older fuel arrangements, though it is not widely used today.
In its SEC filing, the startup disclosed it is already involved in a patent dispute with another company that recently went bankrupt. Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) went bankrupt in 2024, and its assets were bought to form Standard Nuclear. X-energy claims that USNC infringed on its fuel fabrication patents and that the issue has not been resolved to its satisfaction during the bankruptcy proceedings.
Outside of China, the development of new nuclear reactors has largely stalled due to delays and cost overruns. A new generation of startups hopes that by making reactors smaller, they can overcome some of the problems that plagued traditional designs.
None of the small modular reactor (SMR) startups have built a power plant yet, though several are rushing to meet a July 4 deadline set by the Trump administration. While many might miss this arbitrary deadline, they are still likely to achieve criticality, which is when fission reactions become self-sustaining.
However, the path from criticality to profitable power plants will likely be long. Mass manufacturing can help lower costs, but it usually takes about a decade for the process to start paying off. Furthermore, the number of reactors these companies plan to build, while more than some past attempts, might not be enough to fully benefit from mass manufacturing.
X-energy expects that once its reactor production techniques are mature—what experts call “Nth-of-a-kind”—it will be able to reduce costs by 30% compared to the first-of-a-kind reactor. Investors should pay close attention to the cost of that first reactor, as it could determine the company’s future success.
