Multinational aerospace and defence company Rolls-Royce has set its sights on becoming the UK’s most valuable company. Chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic told the BBC that the company is planning to power artificial intelligence with nuclear reactors.

Marching towards its vision, Rolls-Royce has already secured deals to provide small modular reactors (SMRs) to the UK and the Czech Republic governments.

Ever since AI rose to worldwide acclaim in 2022, it has used a large amount of energy. This usage has sparked global debates, raising practical and environmental concerns.

Investing in AI

The Rolls-Royce chief believes the company’s nuclear capabilities are a moat they can leverage to become the UK’s most valuable company.

There is no private company in the world with our nuclear capability. If we are not the market leader globally, we did something wrong,” he said.

Rolls-Royce already supplies reactors that power submarines, and Erginbilgic believes this could be a massive advantage when it comes to bringing that technology on land in the form of SMRs.

A bold prediction

According to the CEO’s estimate, the world will require 400 SMRs by 2050, costing $3bn each. That’s another trillion-dollar-plus market he wishes Rolls-Royce to dominate.

SMRs are not only quicker to build compared to traditional nuclear power plants, but they will also have a significant impact on the pricing once the units are rolled out.

Although the technology is unproven, with no working examples of SMR, major tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Meta have already signed deals to secure energy from SMRs in the United States. This indicates how important nuclear energy is viewed as a solution to AI needs.

However, regarding vision, Erginbilgic clearly stated that Rolls-Royce won’t opt for getting listed on the US stock market – a path most British companies usually consider.

“I disagree with the idea that you can only perform in the US. That’s not true, and hopefully we have demonstrated that,” he said.

Working on the plan

Rolls-Royce SMR has already signed an MoU with Škoda JS to explore the production of components for its Small Modular Reactor (SMR) program. According to the plan, the company plans to install 3GW of nuclear capacity using the Rolls-Royce 470 MWe reactor design.

SMRs are not only smaller but quicker to build than traditional nuclear plants.

“Each Rolls-Royce SMR will generate 470 megawatts of low-carbon energy, equivalent to more than 150 onshore wind turbines,” said the company. The SMRs built by Rolls-Royce are expected to produce enough electricity to power around 3 million homes.

“Rolls-Royce SMR is up to eighteen months ahead of competitors in any European regulatory process and, with this first mover advantage, is in pole position to become a world leader in SMR technology and the UK’s premier green export technology,” the company said.