Kairos Power gets up to $100M from Samsung group to build nuclear reactor for Google
Kairos Power has struck a deal with Samsung C&T under which the engineering firm will invest equity and provide engineering services valued at up to $100 million to help build Kairos’s 50-megawatt demonstration reactor for Google. The investment includes $70 million in equity and supports Kairos’s plan to bring its Hermes 2 reactor online by 2030 as part of a broader agreement with Google.
Why It Matters
The partnership accelerates a nuclear startup working to deliver advanced reactors for cloud-data-center demand, and couples Kairos’s novel reactor and fuel designs with Samsung C&T’s construction experience — potentially speeding deployment timelines required by Google’s multi-reactor purchase agreement.
Key Facts
- Deal value: Up to $100 million (combination of equity and in-kind engineering services)
- Equity component: $70 million
- Partner: Samsung C&T (engineering and construction firm)
- Customer: Google (existing supplier agreement from fall 2024)
- Project: 50-megawatt Hermes 2 demonstration reactor (first 50 MW toward Google deal)
Kairos Power has named Samsung C&T as an engineering partner for its first 50-megawatt demonstration reactor, which is intended to supply the initial capacity under a multi-reactor deal with Google. Under the agreement, Samsung C&T will both invest equity in Kairos and provide in-kind engineering services; Kairos says the combined contribution is worth up to $100 million, with $70 million coming as an equity investment.
The reactors Kairos is building are located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Hermes 1 is a low-power demonstrator intended to help refine the company’s commercial design, while Hermes 2 is the firm’s first commercial-scale unit and will represent the 50 megawatts counted toward the Google contract. Kairos received U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval to construct the reactors in late 2024 and expects Hermes 2 to be operating by 2030, consistent with its timeline for the Google agreement.
Hermes 2 will use a fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor design, an approach that leverages high boiling-point salts to keep operating pressures low. Kairos is also employing TRISO fuel, which embeds tiny uranium kernels inside layers of ceramic and carbon and packs them into roughly billiard ball-sized spheres; the company says this fuel form is intended to reduce the risk of meltdown. Samsung C&T brings global nuclear construction experience, having built or assisted in roughly a dozen reactors worldwide.
Kairos is among several nuclear startups drawing interest from cloud providers as data-center electricity demand rises. Google’s fall 2024 arrangement with Kairos calls for reactors that together could generate about half a gigawatt by 2035, meaning Kairos will need to scale beyond Hermes 2 to meet the full commitment. The Samsung partnership is positioned to supply capital and engineering capacity that may help accelerate Kairos’s subsequent projects and construction cadence.