US advanced nuclear firm Nano Nuclear has partnered with data center builder Tillman Digital Gateway to explore the deployment of Nano’s Kronos nuclear reactor across Tillman’s planned AI industrial zones in the US.

The non-binding strategic commercial framework agreement identifies Nano as Tillman’s anticipated preferred nuclear technology provider and establishes a structure for the parties to collaborate on reactor deployment.

The partners are targeting the deployment of 2GW of nuclear capacity by the mid 2030s, and 6GW or more by 2040. The deployments will be subject to general and site-specific definitive agreements, customer commitments, financing, regulatory approvals, and other project requirements.

“This framework represents a milestone in our future customer acquisition strategy, as Tillman brings deep infrastructure-development capabilities, access to capital and relationships across the technology ecosystem, together with a power-first approach to developing the next generation of AI campuses. By planning for nuclear at the earliest stages of site development, we believe we can establish a practical pathway to introduce reliable, baseload power as these campuses scale,” said James Walker, CEO of Nano.

Nano is currently developing the Kronos micro modular reactor, expected to serve as its main offering. Kronos is a stationary high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to produce 15MW of electricity. The units are intended for long-term deployments of up to 20 years without refueling. The deal is its second in the digital infrastructure sector, following a memorandum of understanding with Super Micro in May.

Under the terms of the deal, the companies intend to collaborate across the nuclear project-development lifecycle, including site evaluation and diligence, licensing and development planning, customer engagement and project deployment.

“Meeting the extraordinary power requirements of next-generation AI infrastructure requires us to plan not only for what our campuses need today, but for the resilient, scalable power architecture they will require for decades to come,” said Sachit Ahuja, co-president of Tillman Global Holdings.

The capacity is expected to power Tillman’s US expansion plans, which center around its multi-state AI industrial zone strategy. At present, the company has no facilities in the US. It does, however, have several data center projects under development in India through its parent company, Tillman Global Holdings. Tillman Global also has projects planned in Singapore, Japan, UK, and the UAE.

The company becomes the latest in the sector to back advanced nuclear. Amazon, Google, Data4, Oracle, Switch, and Equinix have all signed deals with advanced nuclear firms over recent years.