Meta’s 20-year deal with Constellation Energy follows similar maneuvers from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, but it will take years before nuclear energy can meet the tech industry’s insatiable demand for new sources of electricity.

Meta has cut a 20-year deal to secure nuclear power to help meet surging demand for artificial intelligence and other computing needs at Facebook’s parent company.

Meta has agreed to buy the output of a nuclear plant in Illinois for two decades, marking its first deal of this kind as it seeks to shore up electricity to power its artificial intelligence efforts and US data centres.