Kairos Power gets up to $100M from Samsung group to build nuclear reactor for Google

Kairos Power selected Samsung C&T to help build its 50-megawatt Hermes 2 reactor in Tennessee, with Samsung providing up to $100 million through equity investment and engineering services. The project is part of Google’s 2024 deal with Kairos to source about half a gigawatt of nuclear power by 2035 for growing data center demand.

The deal shows how AI-driven electricity needs are accelerating investment in advanced nuclear projects, even as many designs remain unproven at commercial scale. Samsung C&T’s nuclear construction experience could help reduce execution risk, but Kairos still faces a tight timeline to validate its salt-cooled reactor and TRISO fuel approach by 2030.