NewsScale Power Rallyes in the US... SMR Stocks Gain Attention as Post-AI Focus

SMR Beneficiary NewScale Power Recovers to $7 After 7 Months
Rapid Increase in Power Consumption Due to AI Technology Advances...Emerges as SMR Alternative
Expecting Benefits for Domestic Doosan Enerbility and Hyundai Construction

NuScale Power, a small modular reactor (SMR) company certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), is continuing its rally on the New York Stock Exchange. The expectation that power consumption will increase as artificial intelligence (AI) advances is fueling anticipation that SMR installations will become more active, influencing the stock price. Interest in SMRs is also growing domestically, with Doosan Enerbility and Hyundai Engineering & Construction being mentioned as beneficiary stocks.

According to the financial investment industry on the 15th, NuScale Power's stock price rose 172.3% from $2.60 on the 23rd of last month to $7.08 on the 13th of this month. It recovered the $7 per share level for the first time since August last year.

Hwang Su-wook, a researcher at Meritz Securities, explained, "Investment sentiment deteriorated after the cancellation of major projects last November, but interest increased after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Nuclear Energy Act last month." He added, "A fast track was established to promote next-generation nuclear projects through regulatory easing," and "It encourages the construction of reactors at aging thermal power plants by reducing licensing costs for next-generation reactors and providing incentives for technology development."

Globally, as AI technology rapidly develops, concerns about power shortages are growing. AI applications are expanding beyond text and images to video, augmented reality (AR), autonomous driving, robotics, and healthcare. The related industry expects energy demand related to AI to increase exponentially. Even considering only data center power demand, it is analyzed to grow at an average annual rate of 23% from 2023 to 2033. By 2033, it is expected to account for 10.8% of global power demand.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, data centers use 10 to 40 times more energy per unit area compared to typical offices. Data centers are concentrated in specific regions, including North America. Considering that power demand is concentrated in specific cities and buildings, it is difficult to solve power shortage problems with existing power supply systems alone. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) forecasts that SMR demand will increase to 13 GW by 2030.

Researcher Hwang emphasized, "SMRs can be installed near demand sites, reducing transmission network investment costs caused by the high energy density of data centers," and "Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, a figure symbolizing AI, is also investing in SMRs."

Domestically, Doosan Enerbility and Hyundai Engineering & Construction are considered companies that can benefit from the SMR industry’s emergence. Moon Kyung-won, a researcher at Meritz Securities, analyzed, "Doosan Enerbility is the company most likely to benefit from the SMR industry’s emergence through equity investments and agreements with U.S. clients such as NuScale and X-Energy." Doosan Enerbility’s stock price has risen 12.3% since the beginning of this month. During the same period, the KOSPI rose only 2.9%.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction is also cooperating with U.S. SMR design company Holtec. Holtec is pushing forward with the construction of an SMR factory in the UK with an investment of about 1 trillion won. Among KOSDAQ-listed companies, Woori Technology, which manufactures core components of nuclear power plant measurement and control systems (MMIS), and BHI, which is preparing 'Fuel Handling System (FHS)' and 'Pressure Radioactivity Reduction System Vessel' for the domestic i-SMR business development, are also considered SMR-related companies. Researcher Moon said, "They are among the 18 small and medium-sized enterprises participating in the Korean i-SMR project," and analyzed, "Domestic production achievements will appear this year and next year, with nuclear power sales increasing by 30% and 34% respectively compared to the previous year."