NEW YORK, April 25, 2026, 11:02 EDT
- X-Energy’s Class A common shares ended Friday at $29.20, gaining almost 27% over the $23 IPO price.
- Amazon-backed nuclear developer pulled in roughly $1.02 billion after bumping up the size of its offering.
- Public investors now have a new small modular reactor stock to watch after the rally, though the company remains several years away from actual commercial deployment.
X-Energy Inc.’s Class A shares jumped on their Nasdaq debut, ending the session at $29.20. The Amazon-backed nuclear reactor firm had priced its expanded IPO at $23 apiece. That first-day close put the company’s market value near $11.9 billion, Reuters said, as buyers looked for exposure to AI- and data center-linked power plays.
Electricity demand is grabbing attention in markets, not just energy circles, making the listing newly relevant. X-Energy is pushing its small modular reactors—basically compact nuclear units designed for replication—as a potential source of reliable power for factories and hefty computing operations that can’t count solely on wind and solar.
X-Energy said late Thursday it pulled in roughly $1.02 billion from the sale of 44,254,659 Class A common shares. Shares debuted Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, trading under the ticker “XE.” The deal is slated to close April 27, pending the usual conditions. X-energy
X-Energy priced its IPO above the previously marketed $16 to $19 range. The company also disclosed that underwriters secured a 30-day option to purchase as many as 6,638,198 additional shares.
J. Clay Sell, X-Energy’s Chief Executive, told Reuters the company’s public debut would open the door to greater transparency for both customers and investors. It’ll also provide stock to help attract and keep employees and free up capital for supply chain expansion. “We wanted to take this opportunity to build a larger balance sheet that allows us to reduce the risk of getting to scale,” Sell said. Reuters
X-Energy’s Xe-100 reactor relies on helium for cooling—unlike most reactors, which use water. The company is also betting on its nuclear fuel division, touting potential recurring revenue as more reactors come online.
The company’s initial commercial rollout is anchored by clients like Amazon, Dow, and Centrica. X-Energy disclosed in a securities filing that it’s collaborating with Dow and Amazon at its first announced locations—Seadrift, Texas and Richland, Washington. The company views subsequent projects as opportunities to reduce both costs and schedule risk by repeating what works.
The Dow project remains under regulatory review. Back in March 2025, a Dow subsidiary filed a construction permit application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The agency officially docketed the request two months later, in May 2025, launching an 18-month review window. If the process stays on track and construction moves ahead, Dow has set its sights on commercial operation in the early 2030s.
X-Energy’s arrival gives it a spot alongside other publicly traded nuclear names like Oklo and NuScale Power—both part of the advanced-nuclear cohort. Oklo and NuScale shares slipped on Friday, according to MarketScreener’s Dow Jones page, while X-Energy’s fresh listing found buyers.
The risks, however, are far from trivial. X-Energy has informed investors that it hasn’t delivered a commercial Xe-100 reactor yet, nor has it made final investment decisions for any project. The company also cautioned that setbacks like licensing holdups, funding requirements, supply-chain snarls, and tight access to HALEU — that’s the high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel some advanced reactors need — could put a dent in its ambitions.
X-Energy, in its filing, signaled that losses will likely continue as the Xe-100 project moves from development to commercialization. The company flagged the potential need for additional funding—debt or equity down the line. Shares could be at risk if investors start to question whether the initial rally outpaced progress on licensing or the still-untested revenue stream.
