Alphabet, Google's parent company, has agreed to purchase nuclear power from Constellation Energy, a deal that will drive an additional 890 megawatts of reactor capacity and is being interpreted by the market as a continuation of the AI infrastructure capital expenditure narrative from tech giants.

The entire commercial nuclear power sector was promptly repriced. Talen Energy rose 12.43%, Vistra gained 10.77%, NRG Energy climbed 7.03%, and power equipment maker GE Vernova added 3.96%.

On October 5, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion to Vistra to upgrade three nuclear facilities 鈥?Beaver Valley, Davis-Besse, and Perry 鈥?planning to add 433 megawatts of generating capacity while maintaining nearly 4 gigawatts of baseload power supply.

Analysts believe that hyperscale data centers are willing to pay long-term contract prices for round-the-clock stable power supply, and whoever holds dispatchable baseload power sources holds pricing power. This also explains why the utilities sector became the strongest performer of the day.

The electricity demand from AI training and inference is turning grid capacity into a scarce resource, and nuclear power can both supply power around the clock and produce zero carbon emissions.

Buoyed by this news, Australian uranium stocks moved higher. On Tuesday, Constellation Energy's shares in New York rose 12%. In early Asian trading in the Australian market, Paladin Energy rose as much as 6.5%, Deep Yellow gained 9.5%, Silex Systems advanced 8.2%, and NexGen Energy climbed 6.2%.

China's State Council approved eight new nuclear power units on July 31, the first batch of approvals for 2026, involving four projects in Guangdong, Liaoning, Zhejiang, and Shandong, adding a total installed capacity of approximately 10 gigawatts with a total investment of about 170 billion yuan.

CLSA published a research report suggesting that nuclear power investment has counter-cyclical characteristics, providing years of earnings visibility for nuclear equipment suppliers.

Hong Kong-listed stocks in the nuclear power supply chain:

CGN Power (01816): The Zhaoyuan Unit 2 is about to begin full-scale construction. The company also plans to contribute 70 million yuan to establish a joint venture, Yue Shan Nuclear Power, to carry out the development, construction, and operation of the Lufeng Units 3 and 4 nuclear power project. Bank of America Securities issued a research report stating that CGN Power's second-quarter results exceeded expectations, and it maintains a positive view on the company's operations for the coming quarters, expecting it to benefit from resilient market-based electricity prices, the restoration of normal operations at the Taishan units, and continued approval of nuclear power projects, enhancing visibility for earnings and capacity growth.

CGN Mining (01164): Benefiting from accelerated nuclear power construction and tight upstream mineral supply, natural uranium prices continue to rise. As a natural uranium production and trading company backed by a nuclear power enterprise, CGN Mining is expected to fully benefit from rising natural uranium prices. The company's 2026 long-term agreement benchmark price adjustment makes full-year earnings growth foreseeable.

Dongfang Electric (01072): In the first half of 2026, Dongfang Electric's nuclear energy business revenue was 2.740 billion yuan, up 2.0% year-on-year. As of the end of September 2025, the company had approximately 28 billion yuan in hand orders for nuclear power equipment, with revenue expected to be recognized gradually from 2026 to 2029. Among the eight nuclear power units approved at the July 2026 State Council executive meeting, Dongfang Electric is deeply involved in supplying core equipment such as steam generators and turbine-generator sets for projects including Taipingling Phase III, Jinqimen Phase II, Laiyang Phase I, and Zhuanghe Phase I.

Shanghai Electric (02727): The company covers core equipment for both the nuclear island and conventional island and has made forward-looking arrangements in the fusion field, possessing both technical barriers and order reserves, with strong certainty for future earnings growth. In the first half of 2026, Shanghai Electric added 4.57 billion yuan in new nuclear power equipment orders. In the bidding for the first batch of eight nuclear power units under the 15th Five-Year Plan, Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group won bids for 24 sets of nuclear island main equipment, while the Power Station Group simultaneously secured the conventional island TG package supply. Its domestic comprehensive market share for nuclear island main equipment has long been in a leading position in the industry.

Harbin Electric (01133): One of the core domestic suppliers of nuclear power main equipment. Its nuclear power business covers nuclear island main equipment, conventional island main equipment, nuclear-grade pumps and valves, nuclear-grade motors, and supporting equipment such as main helium circulators, and it participates in multiple reactor types including Hualong One, Guohe One/CAP1400, AP1000, VVER, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, fast reactors, and small modular reactors. The company has a full order book, and since the delivery cycle for power equipment manufacturing is typically about 1.5 to 3 years, its current coal power orders can cover production and operations for the next 2 to 3 years. New orders and newly signed contracts amounted to 64.63 billion yuan, up 13.6% year-on-year, with the value of newly signed orders reaching a historical high.

China Nuclear International (02302): The significant decline in interim revenue was mainly attributable to a sharp decrease in the volume of natural uranium business transactions between the company and independent third parties compared with the same period last year.