AI Needs Power: Southeast Asia’s Nuclear Dilemma

IAEA Imagebank, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Noah Eubanks

Southeast Asia is giving nuclear power a second look, and as governments look for ways to support artificial intelligence and data center growth, nuclear energy is increasingly being discussed as part of the infrastructure needed to sustain the region’s digital ambitions. Countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines are giving the technology attention as they plan for rising electricity demand and economic growth.

However, this issue goes beyond generating more power. The IAEA’s Milestones Approach stresses that states cannot responsibly introduce nuclear power without first building the legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks needed to support it—specifically, an independent regulator, emergency preparedness, waste management systems, procurement, and a competent owner-operator. For Southeast Asia, that means the real issue is not just financing reactors or meeting electricity demand, it is building the state capacity to manage a nuclear program safely over 10–15 years from the initial planning to the first operation, even as data-center needs continue to surge.

Nuclear energy, however, is not the region’s only option. Ember estimates that solar and wind could meet up to 30% of ASEAN data center electricity demand by 2030, even without battery storage, suggesting that the region’s digital expansion does not depend on nuclear power alone. Renewables and gas can address immediate needs with fewer hurdles, while select countries build nuclear capacity for the future.

Southeast Asia’s digital future will depend on more than how much electricity it can produce. It will also depend on whether governments can match technological ambition with the institutions needed to manage large-scale energy systems over decades. The region’s nuclear debate is ultimately a test of governance as much as a search for power.