Priya: Up to one hundred million dollars from Samsung... to build a nuclear reactor for Google.
Theo: This is Theo.
Priya: And I'm Priya.
Theo: And this is Money Daily for Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026.
Priya: Some wild stories crossing our desks today, Theo.
Theo: On the show today: Google's data centers are going nuclear, and we'll tell you who's footing the hundred-million-dollar bill.
Priya: Plus, a Dutch company making your phone screen more efficient just raised a fortune to bring that same magic to data centers.
Theo: And we need to talk about OpenAI. Its AI is solving impossible math problems, and the company just formed an… interesting advisory group to deal with it.
Theo: Okay, let's start with powering the cloud. A company called Kairos Power just got a huge investment to build a nuclear reactor... specifically for Google.
Priya: Right, it's a deal with Samsung C&T—their construction and trading arm—for up to a hundred million dollars.
Theo: A hundred million dollars to build their first 50-megawatt plant. This is the future of nuclear, Priya: small, safe, and tailor-made for the massive data centers that run everything.
Priya: Let's be clear, it's up to a hundred million. That's not a done deal. And this is for their very first plant—a demonstration plant. They've never actually built one of these before.
Theo: Everyone has a first! And Google needs the juice. Their AI ambitions are enormous, and that means they need an insane amount of electricity. This is a clean, reliable way to do it.
Priya: 'Clean' is a strong word for nuclear, Theo, especially when you think about the waste. But my real issue is, you've got a construction company funding another company to build something for a third company. That's a lot of things that could go wrong.
Theo: But it just shows you how serious the AI energy crisis is. Tech companies are now literally funding power plants.
Priya: That's the takeaway here. The power needed for your cloud storage, your movies, every single AI search—it's so massive that tech giants are getting into the energy business. This isn't just a Google story; it's about the staggering physical cost of our digital lives.
Theo: Still, a hundred million dollars sends a pretty powerful message. Wow.
Priya: Okay, staying on the topic of powering data centers… a Dutch deep-tech company called Morphotonics just landed 40 million euros.
Theo: Forty million euros! And their tech is wild. They basically imprint these microscopic patterns onto surfaces, like your phone screen, to make it brighter while using less power.
Priya: And that 40 million, which comes from a group including 3M's venture arm, is all about taking that same tech and putting it inside data centers.
Theo: Exactly. Instead of making a display brighter, they're using it on the fiber optic links inside data centers to guide the light more efficiently. That means less wasted energy, more data getting through. It's just brilliant.
Priya: It sounds brilliant. It also sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. The buzzword is 'large-area nano-imprint technology.' The real question is, can they do it reliably and cheaply at scale? That's the 40 million euro bet.
Theo: Well, with 3M Ventures on board, I'd say they have a decent shot. If anyone knows manufacturing at scale, it's 3M.
Priya: It's just another reminder that the biggest bills the internet pays are for energy and cooling. Any technology that can chip away at those costs, even a little, is potentially worth a fortune. Think of it as a massive upgrade to the internet's hidden plumbing.
Theo: I just love the idea of tech from my phone screen making the whole internet faster.
Theo: Alright, let's pivot to OpenAI. Apparently, their AI models are now so good at math, they've solved more than 100 previously open mathematical problems.
Priya: These are problems that have stumped human mathematicians for decades. It's… a little unsettling. In response, OpenAI announced it's forming a new math advisory group.
Theo: And that's great! Bring in the experts, get some oversight, figure out what you're actually building. It sounds like responsible development.
Priya: Whoa, hold on. Did you actually read the announcement, Theo? The group is explicitly told it 'won't be given leeway to slow down or redirect OpenAI's ongoing mathematical research.'
Theo: Wait. So… they're advisors who aren't allowed to advise?
Priya: Exactly. They get to watch and comment, but they can't touch the brakes. This isn't an ethics board, Theo, it's a focus group with PhDs. It's pure PR.
Theo: That is… not great. Why even announce it?
Priya: To create the illusion of responsibility while the train barrels ahead at full speed. This is the new playbook: technology is moving so fast that 'oversight' now just means a committee with no actual power.
Theo: So the AI is solving math problems we can't, and the people in charge of it are creating committees that can't do anything. What could go wrong?
Theo: Alright, let's run through that again. Google's getting a nuclear reactor, backed by an investment from Samsung's construction arm.
Priya: A Dutch tech firm scored €40 million to bring its phone-screen magic to data centers.
Theo: And OpenAI created a new math advisory group… that isn't actually allowed to advise. What a Tuesday.
Theo: Before we go, a quick note: today is Hobbit Day.
Priya: I'm almost afraid to ask. Is that a cryptocurrency?
Theo: No, it's the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. It got me thinking, what's the personal finance angle on inheriting a magic, soul-corrupting ring of power?
Priya: That's an untaxed inheritance with significant, undisclosed liabilities. The IRS would have a field day with the Estate of Baggins.
Theo: That's our show! I'm Theo.
Priya: And I'm Priya. Money Daily will be back tomorrow. Don't go inheriting any cursed jewelry.
This show is made with AI: the hosts’ voices are synthetic and the scripts are AI-assisted. Every story links to its original source.