XE Stock Soars 31% In Debut As Commercial Partnerships Power Optimism

• Nuclear start-up X-Energy raised over $1 billion in its initial public offering.
• Stock opened at $23, exceeding the initial target range of $16 to $19 per share.
• Investor Ken Griffin is set to earn $300 million from a $100 million investment.

Nuclear energy firm X-Energy (XE) surged as much as 31% in its debut, raising over $1 billion as investors bet surge in artificial intelligence usage will spur electricity demand, while strong commercial partnership deals provide added support.  

The stock opened at $30.11, after upsizing its initial price to $23 per share from the previously announced $16 - $19 per share range. The company raised more than $1 billion, making it the largest nuclear public offering on record. 

Nuclear power is garnering significant interest owing to a surge in electricity demand driven by rapid AI developments, which in turn demands more cloud storage and data center usage.  

Shares traded up 21% at 2.40 pm ET. 

XE Business Model

X-energy's core offering is the xe-100, an 80-megawatt, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. This reactor type is notable for its high operating temperatures, which enable it to be used not only for electricity generation but also for industrial processes such as chemical production. 

Currently, all operational nuclear reactors in the U.S. are light water reactors.

According to filings, the company doesn’t intend to own and operate nuclear plants, but would license its technology. The company will also manufacture and sell nuclear fuel, produced at its fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where construction started in 2025.

XE Partnerships

XE has made significant strides with its commercial partnerships with Amazon, Dow, and Centrica. 

Its primary commercial engine is Amazon, which anchored a $500 million funding round in late 2024 and holds a nearly 20% stake in the company. Amazon and XE are collaborating to deploy up to 5 GW of small modular reactor (SMR) capacity across the U.S. by 2039. 

Dow is nearing the construction phase of a four-unit Xe-100 plant at its Seadrift, Texas, manufacturing site—the first industrial-scale deployment of its kind in North America. Internationally, Centrica has emerged as a critical partner in the UK, recently signing a Memorandum of Understanding to build up to 12 reactors in Hartlepool. 

Ken Griffin, the founder of hedge fund Citadel, is set to gain about $300 million from a $100 million personal investment made 1.5 years ago, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Retail Take

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was ‘normal’ with ‘extremely high’ message volumes.

One user mentioned taking small positions in IPOs.

Another user expressed optimism, saying the stock could be a multibagger. 

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