Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group has launched a joint venture with Chinese state-owned nuclear power developer China National Nuclear Company (CNNC).

The deal, first reported by Bloomberg, was completed alongside several other partners and outlined potential areas of cooperation, including energy generation. It, however, did not specify the exact scope of the partnership. Alibaba did not immediately respond to Bloomberg's request for comment on the matter.

The deal could potentially have a significant impact on powering China’s AI growth goals. Alibaba is one of the biggest cloud providers in the country, with approximately 15 cloud regions and 59 availability zones across China and Hong Kong, covering major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.

CNNC was founded in 1955 and operates one of the largest nuclear fleets in the world, with around 25 units generating more than 23GW of power, as of 2025. The company has a further 15-17 approved units under or approved for construction, representing more than 20GW of capacity.

China has an extremely aggressive strategy for nuclear growth, with plans to reach 200GW by 2035, and 400-500GW by 2050. Unlike the US, where nuclear growth is tied to under-development advanced nuclear concepts like small modular (SMR) and micro reactors, much of China’s growth is expected to be in the form of traditional nuclear.

Its focus on large-scale reactors stems from China's ability to build them much faster and at a lower cost than the US. The country is able to do this due to massive state-sponsored financing, use of standardized proven designs, and a streamlined licensing process which doesn't have the same stringent requirements seen within the US market.

At present, the country has around 38 to 44 reactors under construction, with the country aiming to complete between six and ten reactors every year.

The deal is the first of note between a tech firm and a nuclear developer in China. We have seen several across the US market over the past couple of years. Most recently, Meta signed one of the biggest nuclear procurement deals to date, inking three deals, two with small modular reactor developers, TerraPower and Oklo, and one with retail electricity giant Vistra. Combined, the deals could provide access to up to 6.6GW of nuclear power from a mix of advanced SMRs and existing large-scale reactors.

Other notable deals within the US market include Google’s PPA with NextEra Energy to offtake 615MW of power from the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, Iowa, and Equinix’s deals with three SMR firms for more than 750MW of power in August.

DCD did a deep dive into the Equinix deal, and the broader SMR market in our latest magazine. Read for free here.