Nov 24 (Reuters) - Nuclear reactor developer X-energy

said on Monday it had closed a $700 million financing round led

by trading company Jane Street to help expand its supply chain

and commercial pipeline.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The U.S. nuclear industry is undergoing a renaissance after

years of stagnation, primarily driven by surging power demand

from the so-called hyperscalers that operate massive

cloud-computing infrastructure to manage rising AI processing.

X-energy is one of several companies that have signed deals

with big tech companies as AI boosts U.S. power demand for the

first time in decades.

Earlier this year, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) anchored a funding

round in which X-energy raised $700 million to help finish

reactor design and licensing as well as construction of a

fuel-making facility.

CONTEXT

Small modular reactors are more compact and cost-effective

compared to full-sized reactors that often take decades to

build.

X-energy is developing an advanced small modular reactor as

well as a specialized type of advanced nuclear fuel and is

working on projects with Dow, Amazon ( AMZN ), and Centrica ( CPYYF )

.

BY THE NUMBERS

X-energy said it expects to utilize proceeds from the round

to help support its order book of more than 11 gigawatts,

representing 144 advanced small modular reactors (SMR).

The firm added that the funding round included new investors

ARK Invest, Galvanize, Hood River Capital Management, Point72,

Reaves Asset Management and XTX Ventures.

It also included existing investors Ares Management ( ARES ) funds,

Corner Capital, Emerson Collective, NGP and Segra Capital

Management.