The market for uranium mining deals in the US is heating up as investors anticipate a bright future for nuclear-powered data centers. Investment in global uranium production fell off in recent decades following nuclear disasters at Three Mile Island and elsewhere, and the gap between supply and demand is widening. The deficit is especially acute in the US, which imports most of the uranium it needs for nuclear fuel and will enforce a ban on imports from Russia, currently a major supplier, in 2028.

As tech companies chart out a much greater role for cutting-edge nuclear power in the 2030s, the outlook for uranium prices is bright, Thomas Lamb, CEO of mining startup Myriad Uranium, told Semafor. Last year the company was able to acquire a uranium deposit in New Mexico for roughly $375,000 and flip it for a six-fold return to a group of venture capitalists that included Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and the defense tech investment firm Overmatch, which are planning to build out a more robust US nuclear fuel supply chain. Myriad’s new acquisition, first reported by Semafor, is a collection of uranium deposits in Arizona, which it intends to develop in partnership with the Texas oil and gas producer Wedgemount Resources. “Our investors see demand going parabolic in the US,” Lamb said. “That’s why they’re stepping in here.”