The homegrown nuclear startup backed by Amazon just pulled off the largest nuclear public offering in history — and it’s right in our backyard.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — A Montgomery County energy company has just made history on Wall Street, and the DMV is taking notice.
X-energy, the advanced nuclear technology firm headquartered at Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, officially began trading on the Nasdaq last Friday, April 24, under the ticker symbol XE — raising approximately $1.02 billion in what is now the largest nuclear industry IPO ever recorded.
The offering, priced at $23 per share — well above the company’s initial target range of $16 to $19 — was reportedly 15 times oversubscribed, signaling extraordinary investor confidence in both X-energy’s technology and the broader nuclear energy renaissance now being driven by the explosive demand from AI data centers.
A Strong Wall Street Debut
X-energy’s stock opened at $30.11 on its first day of trading, surged as high as $31.33, and closed at $29.20 — a 27% gain on day one. At that close, the company carried a market valuation of approximately $11.5 to $11.9 billion, a stunning figure for a company that just a decade ago was an early-stage startup in Rockville.
Amazon, which invested $500 million in X-energy in 2024, holds roughly 24.3% of Class A shares and remains the company’s largest individual corporate backer. Asset management firm Ares Management holds a 26% stake, while ARK Investment Management — the firm led by high-profile investor Cathie Wood — indicated interest in purchasing up to $105 million in shares at IPO price.
What X-energy Actually Makes
Founded in 2009, X-energy specializes in small modular reactors (SMRs) — compact, factory-built nuclear systems designed to deploy faster and cheaper than traditional large-scale plants. Its flagship product, the Xe-100 reactor, uses helium rather than water as a coolant to generate 80 megawatts of electric power per unit in a safer, more efficient design.
The company has been signing major supply and deployment deals in the run-up to the IPO. X-energy and Korean manufacturer Doosan Enerbility signed a binding agreement to manufacture steel components for 16 Xe-100 units, with Doosan committing to build an entirely new SMR fabrication facility to support X-energy’s 11-gigawatt commercial pipeline — equivalent to 144 reactors globally. In January 2026, the company locked in a 10-year, $100+ million supply deal with SGL Carbon for graphite materials. And just last month, X-energy signed a Letter of Intent with Talen Energy to explore deploying multiple Xe-100 plants across Pennsylvania and the PJM grid region.
What It Means for the DMV
For Montgomery County residents, the IPO represents more than a financial milestone — it’s a jobs story.
X-energy consolidated its Rockville offices into a new 125,000-square-foot headquarters in Gaithersburg in July 2025 and currently employs 260 full-time workers in the region. With the IPO proceeds fueling its growth, the company plans to create more than 525 new jobs in the area over the next six years.
X-energy’s journey also reinforces Montgomery County’s growing identity as a hub for clean energy and advanced technology innovation — a competitive edge that county economic development officials have been promoting to attract further investment.
The Nuclear Moment
X-energy’s blockbuster debut comes as nuclear energy is experiencing a national resurgence, driven heavily by tech giants and AI infrastructure companies searching for reliable, carbon-free power. Data centers across the country are demanding more electricity than the traditional grid can supply cleanly, and small modular reactors like the Xe-100 are increasingly seen as the answer.
From a Rockville startup to a nearly $12 billion publicly traded company — X-energy’s story is a DMV success story, and it’s only just beginning.
📍 X-energy (NASDAQ: XE) is headquartered at Washingtonian Center, Gaithersburg, Maryland. For more DMV business and energy news, follow TANTV DMV.
