Nuclear-powered data centers built in certain countries could provide foreign nations access to data and compute via digital embassies: perspective
The United States, Japan, and South Korea sign a trilateral memorandum of cooperation to accelearte small modular reactor (SMR) deployments in other countries, starting with the Indo-Pacific — a region that is rapidly expanding AI data center construction.
Today, representatives from the three countries signed the MOC at the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey as a means to “foster fleet deployment models that de-risk project development, achieve economies of scale, catalyze private investment, streamline licensing processes, and optimize supply chains.”
“A coordinated trilateral approach positions American, Japanese, and Korean firms to provide partners in the region with more competitive alternatives to meet their growing energy demands and to uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation as new reactor technology increasingly comes online”US State Department, The United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea Sign a Trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation on Small Modular Reactor Deployments in Other Countries, July 2026
Nowhere in the US State Department press release does it mention that the SMRs would be used for powering AI data centers.
However, the Indo-Pacific is a region teeming with data center expansion in countries like Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and of course, China, which dominates the region with approximately 450 facilities.
According to a 2024 report from the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, data centers are “The Indo-Pacific’s Hottest Trend.”
Meanwhile, small Modular Reactors have been put forth as a potential means to generate between 50MW to 300MW of nuclear power, with applications that include data centers, according to the Idaho National Laboratory.
Hellbound and Down 