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Rockville-based X-Energy Files for Nasdaq IPO as Advanced Nuclear Sector Accelerates

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X-Energy's path to IPO follows a series of private investment and commercial partnerships

X-Energy, Inc., headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, has filed a draft registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “XE.” The number of shares and price range for the offering have not yet been determined.

The filing marks a milestone for one of Rockville’s most prominent clean energy companies and a significant moment for the broader advanced nuclear industry, which has gained momentum from surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure and federal policy support.

Founded in 2009 by Kam Ghaffarian and led by CEO J. Clay Sell, a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, X-Energy designs advanced small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and manufactures specialized nuclear fuel. The company’s flagship product, the Xe-100, is a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that produces approximately 80 megawatts of electricity per module. Typically deployed in four-unit configurations generating 320 megawatts, the Xe-100 uses passive safety features and proprietary TRISO-X fuel, which the U.S. Department of Energy has called “the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth.”

The company employs approximately 916 people as of March 2026 and reported $109 million in revenue for the 12 months ending December 31, 2025. Its TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee received an NRC Special Nuclear Material License in February 2026, a critical step toward commercial-scale fuel production.

X-Energy’s path to IPO follows a rapid acceleration of private investment and commercial partnerships. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy selected X-Energy as one of two companies for its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP), a cost-sharing initiative that provides up to $1.2 billion in federal funding to develop, license, and build a demonstration reactor and fuel fabrication facility.

Private capital has followed the federal commitment. In October 2024, Amazon anchored a $500 million Series C-1 funding round, with the two companies collaborating to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new nuclear power online by 2039. In late 2025, X-Energy closed a $700 million Series D round led by Jane Street, with participation from ARK Invest, Point72, and existing investors including Ares Management. Combined with approximately $438 million in ARDP reimbursements received through the end of 2025, X-Energy has assembled substantial financial backing to commercialize its technology.

The IPO filing comes during a week of major commercial announcements. On March 19, X-Energy and Talen Energy Corporation signed a letter of intent to evaluate deploying Xe-100 reactors in Pennsylvania and across the PJM Interconnection market, the regional grid serving much of the eastern United States. The companies are exploring three or more four-unit plants to meet growing energy demand from manufacturing, data centers, and electrification.

X-Energy is also advancing a four-unit reactor at Dow’s Seadrift Operations site on the Texas Gulf Coast under the ARDP program, which would be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor serving an industrial site in North America. Dow and X-Energy submitted a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2025.

Across all its partnerships, X-Energy is developing more than 11 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the United States and United Kingdom, including a 6-gigawatt commitment from UK energy company Centrica.

X-Energy has been headquartered in Rockville since its founding in 2009. The company’s growth from a small reactor design firm to a nearly 1,000-person operation preparing for a public listing has played out in the city, alongside Rockville’s broader concentration of life sciences, clean energy, and technology companies. The IPO filing adds to a series of high-profile milestones for the company over the past 18 months, including two major private funding rounds and the licensing of its fuel fabrication facility.

 

About X-Energy

X-Energy, Inc. is a Rockville, Maryland-based developer of advanced small modular nuclear reactors and fuel technology. The company’s Xe-100 reactor and TRISO-X fuel are designed to deliver safe, reliable, low-carbon energy for electricity generation and industrial applications. Learn more at x-energy.com.

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