NuScale Power Corporation (NYSE: SMR) shares jumped more than 5% in overnight trading Sunday after reports emerged that Japan plans to invest up to $25 billion in the company.
The reported investment, citing South Korean newspaper The Chosun, is tied to a broader U.S. investment package negotiated during trade talks with the Trump administration.
Japan’s planned NuScale stake is part of a far larger nuclear commitment, with Tokyo reportedly allocating over $65 billion to next-generation small modular reactor projects in the United States.
That $65 billion figure represents more than 10% of Japan’s total $550 billion U.S. investment package, signaling the scale of Tokyo’s commitment to America’s nuclear build-out.
Beyond NuScale, Japan’s plans reportedly include up to $40 billion for small modular reactor projects jointly developed by GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE: GEV) and Hitachi.
Initial SMR projects under consideration are located in Tennessee, where U.S. officials have already begun the licensing process for small modular reactor development.
NuScale separately announced last month that it is in discussions with the South Korean government about potential investments as part of Seoul’s pledge to invest $350 billion in U.S. projects.
Japan’s investment plans align with President Donald Trump’s broader push to accelerate nuclear energy expansion, including an executive order signed last month to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and fast-track advanced nuclear technologies.
That executive order seeks to streamline licensing procedures, reduce regulatory hurdles, and impose fixed deadlines on approval decisions, with the administration targeting 400 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2050, up from roughly 100 GW today.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around SMR shifted from “bearish” to “neutral” over 24 hours amid high message volumes, with one bullish user writing, “$25B from Japan… only the beginning as more countries adopt.”
Another user expressed frustration at the stock’s valuation, writing, “So Korea and now Japan thinking about investing in nuscale…. How we not back to ATH is baffling.”
Despite the overnight pop, SMR stock remains down nearly 40% year-to-date, underperforming the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR), which is down approximately 8%, and the Global X Uranium ETF (URA), which is down about 1% over the same period.
