What is OpenAI’s ChatGPT?

Created by San Francisco-based tech lab OpenAI, ChatGPT is a generative AI software application that uses a machine learning technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) to emulate human-written conversations based on a large range of user prompts. This kind of software is better known as an AI chatbot.

ChatGPT learns language by training on texts gleaned from across the internet, including online encyclopedias, books, academic journals, news sites and blogs. Based on this training, the AI chatbot generates text by making predictions about which words (or tokens) can be strung together to produce the most suitable response.

More than a million people engaged with ChatGPT within the first week of its launch for free public testing on November 30, 2022. The introduction of ChatGPT quickly ushered in a new era in the tech industry.

Based on this success, OpenAI created a more powerful version of the ChatGPT system called GPT-4, which was released in March 2023. This iteration of ChatGPT can accept visual inputs, is much more precise and can display a higher level of expertise in various subjects. Because of this, GPT-4 can describe images in vivid detail and ace standardized tests.

Unlike its predecessor, GPT-4 doesn’t have any time limits on what information it can access; however, AI researcher and professor Dr. Oren Etzioni has said that the chatbot is still terrible at discussing the future and generating new ideas. It also hasn’t lost its tendency to deliver incorrect information with too high a degree of confidence.

Further improving on its product, in May 2024 OpenAI launched Chat GPT-4o, with the o standing for omni. OpenAI describes GPT-4o as ‘a step towards much more natural human-computer interaction—it accepts as input any combination of text, audio, image, and video and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs.’

This version has done away with the lagging response time afflicting GPT-4. This proves especially helpful for producing immediate translations during conversations between speakers of different languages. It also allows users to interrupt the chatbot to pose a new query to modify responses.

More recently, in December 2024, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Pro subscriptions targeting engineers and academics. For US$200 monthly, users have nearly unlimited access to all ChatGPT models and tools.

The ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT-4 platforms are free to use, and can be accessed via the web. Those with an iPhone or iPad can also use ChatGPT through an app, and an Android version launched in July 2023. OpenAI also launched a paid subscription, ChatGPT Plus for business use, in August 2023. ChatGPT Plus gives users access to GPT-4 and the newest iteration GPT-4o.

What is the Stargate Project?

The Stargate Project is an AI joint venture focused on building new AI infrastructure in the US through US$500 billion in investments. It was announced on January 21, 2025.

Stargate’s initial funding is coming from OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and UAE-based technology fund MGX. In addition to OpenAI and Oracle, Stargate’s technology partners include Microsoft, NVIDIA, and British semiconductor and software design company Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM).

Newly re-elected US President Trump unveiled Stargate during a press conference at the White House highlighting the importance of investment in US AI infrastructure. During the announcement, OpenAI’s Altman, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son credited President Trump’s return to office as a major catalyst in making Stargate a reality. The construction of data centers for the Stargate Project are already underway in Texas, according to Ellison.

How much has Microsoft invested in OpenAI?

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Over the years, Microsoft has reportedly invested nearly US$14 billion in OpenAI to help the small tech firm create its ultra-powerful AI chatbot.

As for how Microsoft could benefit from its investment in OpenAI, OpenAI officially licensed its technologies to Microsoft in 2020 in a then-exclusive partnership. Indeed, Pitchbook has described the deal as an “unprecedented milestone” for generative AI technology. Since then, Microsoft has made good use of OpenAI’s technology in developing new advancement in its Azure cloud computing business.

However, the relationship between the two has changed in recent months.

Notably, Microsoft is not a financier of the Stargate Project joint venture, and is instead just described as a technology partner. According to OpenAI’s press release, the new joint venture builds on its existing partnership with Microsoft.

Microsoft’s lack of a funding role in Stargate led some to wonder if the trillion-dollar tech firm had soured on its relationship with OpenAI. This conclusion was understandable given reports that Microsoft refused to make a bigger contribution than the US$750 million it invested during the OpenAI US$6.6 billion funding round in October 2024.

Additionally, Microsoft changed the contract between the two companies and is no longer the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI, but has the right of first refusal for deals the AI firm may make with other cloud companies.

As Bloomberg technology reporter Dina Bass explained, Microsoft stands to benefit from its role as a technology partner without having to invest a dime into the project.

“Microsoft views the revised contract with OpenAI as advantageous, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. The software giant retains its share of OpenAI’s revenue and is the largest investor in a company that may now become even more valuable — though the size of that stake could change as the startup works to restructure as a for-profit,” wrote Bass. “And Microsoft also still has access to OpenAI models, even if they’re trained in a data center funded by Softbank or Oracle.”

Yet, there are reports that Microsoft and OpenAI’s relationship is on the brink of a big breakup. The tech giant has been pushing for a much larger percentage of OpenAI’s revenues than the 20 percent it currently enjoys. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is considering making antitrust complaints about Microsoft to regulators even though the two companies are still undergoing high level discussions about the future of the partnership.

Elon Musk’s position on OpenAI

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OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Altman, its current CEO, as well as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and other big-name investors, such as venture capitalist Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Musk left his position on OpenAI’s board of directors in 2018 to focus on Tesla and its pursuit of autonomous vehicle technology.

A few days after ChatGPT became available for public testing, Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say, “ChatGPT is scary good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI.” That same day, he announced that X had shut the door on OpenAI’s access to its database so it could no longer use it for RLHF training.

His reason: “OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true.”

Furthering his feud with OpenAI, Musk filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 for an alleged breach of contract. The crux of his complaint was that OpenAI has broken the ‘founding agreement’ made between the founders (Altman, Greg Brockman and himself) that the company would remain a non-profit. Altman and OpenAI have denied there was such an agreement and that Musk was keen on an eventual for-profit structure.

Musk dropped the lawsuit three months later without giving a reason, reported Reuters. The day before he dropped the lawsuit, he reacted to the news that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is partnering with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT with Apple devices. On X, Musk declared, ‘If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS (operating system) level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.” It should be noted that OpenAI has said queries completed on Apple devices will not be stored by OpenAI. By August 2024, Musk had resumed his litigation in federal court.

It seems that the US government also has questions about the restructuring of the private company and the involvement of tech giant Microsoft, as reported by Bloomberg. In early January 2025, the Financial Press also reported the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has raised questions about the potential anti-trust violations in the newly emerging AI technology space arising from Microsoft’s partnership with and investments in OpenAI.

Of course, Musk took to X to weigh in on the Stargate Project, suggesting OpenAI and its partners don’t actually have the US$500 million they’ve pledged to invest. Sam Altman was quick to reply, telling Musk he’s mistaken and inviting him to visit their data center under construction in Texas.

However, Musk is not alone in his skepticism. For example, Atreides Management Chief Investment Office Gavin Baker also questioned the deal on X. “Stargate is a great name but the $500b is a ridiculous number and no one should take it seriously,” Baker wrote, backing up his statement by explaining the financial positions of each of the partners. “Nowhere close to $500b. Everyone should just start issuing press releases for $1 trillion AI projects.”

OpenAI criticisms and lawsuits

While ChatGPT has served as a major step forward in generative AI technology, there are many technical and ethical concerns with the program that have emerged since it launched, including fears over job destruction and targeted disinformation campaigns.

Accuracy of information in ChatGPT’s answers is not guaranteed. Its selection of which words to string together are actually predictions — not as fallible as mere guesses, but still fallible. Even the 4.0 version is “still is not fully reliable (it “hallucinates” facts and makes reasoning errors),” says the company, which emphasizes that users should exercise caution when employing the technology.

Indeed, ChatGPT’s failings can have dangerous real-life consequences. Among other negative applications, the tech can be used to spread misinformation, carry out phishing email scams or write malicious code.

There’s also the fear among teachers that the technology is leading to an unwelcome rise in academic dishonesty, with students using ChatGPT to write essays or complete their homework.

“Teachers and school administrators have been scrambling to catch students using the tool to cheat, and they are fretting about the havoc ChatGPT could wreak on their lesson plans,” writes New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose.

Many lawsuits against OpenAI have emerged as well. Multiple news outlets, including the the New York Times, have launched copyright lawsuits against OpenAI, and some of the plaintiffs are also seeking damages from the private tech firm’s very public partner Microsoft.

Additionally, the Authors Guild, which represents a group of prominent authors, launched a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI that is calling for a licensing system that would allow authors to opt out of having their books used to train AI, and would require AI companies to pay for the material they do use.

In October, OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji blew the whistle on the company, reporting that the firm was violating US copyright laws. He died one month later in what was ruled a suicide, but the investigation is still open.

Cybersecurity risks are also a concern for ChatGPT users, and recent events along these lines add validity to Musk’s warning. For one, in 2024 ChatGPT for macOS was discovered to be breaching Apple’s security rules by storing data as plain text rather than encryption, making it possible for other apps to access.

What’s the future of OpenAI and ChatGPT?

What about the long-term goals for OpenAI and ChatGPT? For most of the tech leaders in this space, the end game is artificial general intelligence (AGI) — a system that can perform any function the human brain can, including self-teaching, abstract thinking and understanding cause and effect.

As uptake increases, AI technology is taking over the role of humans and will likely continue doing so in a number of fields, from content creation and customer service to transcription and translation services, and even in graphic design, software engineering and paralegal fields.

In addition to Microsoft’s use of the ChatGPT technology as part of Copilot, other companies are working with OpenAI to incorporate the technology into their platforms, including Canva, Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL), Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE), Intercom, Salesforce (NASDAQ:CRM), Stripe, Tinder, Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and Visa (NYSE:V).

For 2025, OpenAI is focusing on developing agentic AI capabilities into its ChatGPT platform. Agentic AI, a part of the evolution towards AGI, involves AI systems and models that can act autonomously and complete tasks without much human guidance. Early in January, OpenAI announced the rollout of new task features for ChatGPT Pro, Plus and Teams users. While still in the beta stage, these features allow users to schedule future tasks to be completed by ChatGPT, such as a weekly news brief or reminders about important meetings.

OpenAI first debuted its foray into agentic AI in September 2024 with the introduction of ChatGPT o1, stating ‘We’ve developed a new series of AI models designed to spend more time thinking before they respond.’ The release of the next iterations of this model, ChatGPT o3 mini and o4 mini happened in the first half of 2025.

The recent release of Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI assistant may present a problem for OpenAI and the US tech industry as a whole. In what tech gurus like Marc Andreesen call AI’s Sputnik moment, DeepSeek unseated ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app in the Apple App Store, at reportedly a fraction of the cost. For reference, in 1957 the Soviets launched Sputnik, the earth’s first artificial satellite, beating out the United States and sparking a Cold War space exploration race between the two nations.

The DeepSeek launch set off a significant sell off in technology stocks on January 27, 2025, especially among the Magnificent Seven members, including NVIDIA, Microsoft and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL).

When will OpenAI go public?

OpenAI stock is not currently publicly traded, and following the May 2025 decision to remain a non-profit, there are no signs of an on initial public offering (IPO) in the works for 2025. For now, investors can gain exposure through related tech companies discussed below.

Which stocks will benefit the most from AI chatbot technology?

Other than companies directly tied to generative AI technology, which stocks are likely to get a boost from generative AI advancements?

There are several verticals in the tech industry with indirect exposure to AI chatbot technology, such as semiconductors, network equipment providers, cloud providers, central processing unit manufacturers and internet of things.

Some of the publicly traded companies in these verticals include:

You can also take a look back at the market with our AI Market 2024 Year-End Review and AI Market Update: Q2 2025 in Review, or read projections for AI this year in our AI Market Forecast: 3 Top Trends that will Affect AI in 2025. Generative AI is also a major theme in the Top 10 Emerging Technologies to Watch.

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company that launched new AI-driven, open-source language models known as DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 into the market in January 2025. Reuters reports that ‘the training of DeepSeek-V3 required less than $6 million worth of computing power from Nvidia H800 chips.’

DeepSeek-R1 is designed to compete with the performance of OpenAI-o1 across math, code, and reasoning tasks.

When to expect ChatGPT 5?

In June 2025, during an OpenAI podcast Sam Altman responded with, ‘Probably some time this summer,’ when asked about when the market can expect to see ChatGPT-5.

Previously, OpenAI filed a trademark application for ChatGPT-5 in mid-July 2023, which hinted that the next iteration of the generative AI technology is currently under development. There were rumors the company planned to complete training for ChatGPT-5 by the end of 2023, but this did not materialize. PC Guide noted in April 2024 that Sam Altman had teased an “amazing new model this year’ in an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast.

In November 2024, Altman confirmed that ChatGPT-5 wouldn’t likely hit the market until later in 2025 as the company switched its focus to ChatGPT o1 and its successors.

What was Bitcoin’s starting price?

When Bitcoin started trading in 2009, its starting price was a minuscule US$0.0009.

On January 12, 2009, Nakamoto made the first Bitcoin transaction when they sent 10 Bitcoins to Hal Finney, a computer scientist and early Bitcoin enthusiast, marking a crucial milestone in the cryptocurrency’s development and adoption.

News of the cryptocurrency continued to spread around the Internet, but its value did not rise above US$0 until October 12, 2009, when a Finnish software developer sent 5,050 Bitcoins to New Liberty Standard for US$5.02 via PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL), thereby establishing both the value of Bitcoin and New Liberty Standard as a Bitcoin exchange.

The first time Bitcoin was used to make a purchase was on May 22, 2010, when a programmer in Florida named Laszlo Hanyecz offered anyone who would bring him a pizza 10,000 Bitcoin in exchange. Someone accepted the offer and ordered Hanyecz two Papa John’s pizzas for US$25. The 10,000 Bitcoin pizza order essentially set Bitcoin’s price in 2010 at around US$0.0025.

Bitcoin’s price finally broke through the US$1 mark in 2011, and moved as high as US$29.60 that year. However, in 2012 Bitcoin pulled back and remained relatively muted.

Bitcoin’s price saw its first significant growth in earnest in 2013, the year it broke through both US$100 and US$1,000. It climbed all the way to US$1,242 in December 2013.

From that peak, Bitcoin’s price began to fall, and it spent most of 2015 in the US$200 range, but it turned around in December 2015 and began to climb again, ending the year at around US$430.

When did the Bitcoin price start to grow?

January 1, 2016, marked the beginning of Bitcoin’s sustained price rise. It started the year at US$433 and ended it at US$989 — a 128 percent value increase in 12 months.

That year, several contributing factors led to Bitcoin’s rise in mainstream popularity. The stock market experienced one of its worst first weeks ever in 2016, and investors began turning to Bitcoin as a “safe-haven” stock amidst economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

2016 also saw the Brexit referendum in the UK in June and the election of Donald Trump to the White House in November, both events that coincided with a bump in Bitcoin’s price.

Bitcoin continued its ascent, while various industries continued to take an interest in blockchain technology, particularly technology and finance. In February, a group of investors that included IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) invested US$60 million in a New York firm developing blockchain technology for financial services, Dig Asset Holdings. Bitcoin was trading at US$368.12 on February 2, down a bit from January, but two months later it was US$418.

In May the price of Bitcoin experienced a significant price increase, rising by 21 percent to US$539 at the end of the month. Its price went higher into June, peaking at US$764 on June 18. After that, it fell sharply and spent the summer in the high US$600 range. It dropped to US$517 on August 1 and started its climb all over again.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch partnered for a finance transacting endeavor in September. Not much price movement was observed, but Bitcoin remained on a steady upward trajectory after that. In October, Ripple partnered with 12 banks in a trial that used its native digital currency token XRP to facilitate cross-border payments. Institutional investment bolstered investor confidence, and Bitcoin went from US$629 to US$736 between October 20 and November 20.

Bitcoin’s popularity continued into 2017, and it rose from US$1,035.24 in January to US$18,940.57 in December. Futures contracts began trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in December 2017, and Bitcoin began to be more widely perceived as a legitimate investment rather than a passing fad. FOMO flooded the market. What ensued was a frenzy of media coverage featuring celebrity endorsements and initial coin offerings (ICOs) that spilled into 2018.

Regulators began to take notice and issued warnings and guidelines meant to protect investors and mitigate risks associated with digital assets, which only seemed to make people want them more.

Through it all, Bitcoin remained the “gold standard” of cryptocurrencies, yet its price was subject to extreme volatility. At the beginning of 2019, it was around US$3,800, it reached nearly US$13,000 in June, but by December 2019 Bitcoin was trading at around US$7,2000.

What factors led to Bitcoin’s rise in the early 2020s?

2020 proved a testing ground for the digital coin’s ability to weather financial upheaval. Starting the year at US$6,950.56, a widespread selloff in March triggered by the pandemic brought its value to US$4,841.67 — a 30 percent decline.

The low created a buying opportunity that helped Bitcoin regain its losses by May. The rally continued throughout 2020, and the digital asset ended the year at US$29,402.64, a 323 percent year-over-year increase and a 507 percent rise from its March drop.

By comparison, gold, one of the best-performing commodities of 2020, added 38 percent to its value from the low in March through December, setting what was then an all-time high of US$2,060 per ounce in August.

Bitcoin’s ascent continued in 2021, rallying to an all-time high of US$68,649.05 in November, a 98.82 percent increase from January. Much of the growth in 2021 was attributed to risk-on investor appetite.

Increased money printing in response to the pandemic also benefited Bitcoin, as investors with more capital looked to diversify their portfolios. The success of the world’s first cryptocurrency amid the market ups and downs of 2020 and 2021 led to more interest and investment in other coins and digital assets as well. For example, 2021 saw the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unique crypto assets that are stored, sold and traded digitally using blockchain technology.

Almost immediately following its record close above US$69,000 in November 2021, Bitcoin’s value began to fall once again. Market uncertainty weighed especially heavily on Bitcoin in 2022. During the second quarter of that year, values dived below US$20,000 for the first time since December 2020.

On May 7, 2022, Curve Whale Watching posted the first sign that confidence in Terra Luna, a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar, was waning after 85 million of its stablecoin UST exchanged for less than the 1:1 ratio it was supposed to maintain. This triggered a massive sell-off that brought Luna’s value down 99.7 percent and eventually resulted in the Terra tokens ceasing to be traded on major crypto exchanges.

Terra’s collapse had a domino effect on the industry as investors’ faith in crypto crumbled. In July, the Celsius network, a platform where users could deposit crypto into digital wallets to accrue interest, halted all transfers due to “extreme market conditions”, driving down the price of Bitcoin even further to US$19,047, a 60 percent decline from January 2022. In July, Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

However, the biggest shake-up to the industry came in November when CoinDesk published findings that cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research led by Sam Bankman-Fried had borrowed billions of dollars of customer funds from crypto exchange and sister company FTX. Over a third of Alameda’s assets were tied up in FTT, the native cryptocurrency of FTX.

Once this news broke, investors withdrew their funds en masse, causing a liquidity crunch that collapsed FTX. Bankman-Fried was later arrested and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on counts of money laundering, wire fraud and securities fraud.

Although Bitcoin was never implicated, the fallout of the FTX scandal led to a crisis of confidence across the sector and increased scrutiny from regulators and law enforcement. By the end of 2022, prices for Bitcoin had moved even lower to settle below US$17,000.

What was the highest price for Bitcoin?

Bitcoin set a new all-time high price on July 14, 2025, when it reached US$123,153.22 per BTC at 07:38 a.m. GMT. Reuters reported that the Bitcoin price has rallied more than 60 percent since the US election in early November.

This latest record high price came as US lawmakers announced key ‘Crypto Week’ bills, and President Trump signaled support for the GENIUS Act, which is expected to create a clear framework for banks and enterprises to issue digital currencies.

The crypto market has found a friend in the Trump administration thus far. Since it began, US regulators have been more inclined to make policy changes that loosen regulations for crypto investing.

What is Bitcoin at today?

As of August 4, 2025, Bitcoin is trading around the US$115,000 level after spending the prior few weeks holding above US$110,000.

Earlier in 2025, Bitcoin demonstrated its volatile nature when the price of the cryptocurrency fell to as low as US$75,000 per coin by April 9. This represented a key buying opportunity as crypto buffs were anticipating further strength in the market under Trump.

Soon after, the price of Bitcoin was once again on a steady upward path and breached the US$100,000 level on May 8.

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain is a digitized and decentralized public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions.

Blockchains are constantly growing as completed blocks are recorded and added in chronological order. The mechanism by which digital currencies are mined, blockchain has become a popular investment space as the technology is increasingly being implemented in business processes across a variety of industries. These include banking, cybersecurity, networking, supply chain management, the Internet of Things, online music, healthcare and insurance.

How to buy Bitcoin?

Bitcoin can be purchased through a variety of crypto exchange platforms and peer-to-peer crypto trading apps, and then held in a digital wallet. These include Coinbase Global, CoinSmart Financial Inc (OTC Pink:CONMF, NEO:SMRT), BlockFi, Binance and Gemini.

What is Coinbase?

Coinbase Global is a secure online cryptocurrency exchange that makes it easy for investors to buy, sell, transfer and store cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

How does crypto affect the banking industry?

Cryptocurrencies are an alternative to traditional banking, and tend to attract people interested in assets that are outside mainstream systems. According to data from Statista, 53 percent of crypto owners are between the ages of 18 and 34, showing that the industry is drawing younger generations who may be interested in decentralized digital options.

Privacy is a key draw for cryptocurrency owners, as is the fact that they are separated from third parties such as central banks. Additionally, crypto transactions, including purchases, sales and transfers, are often quick and have fewer associated fees than transactions going through the banking system in the typical manner.

That said, banks are starting to notice how popular cryptocurrencies are. As Bitcoin and its compatriots become increasingly mainstream, many banks have begun to invest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain companies themselves.

Who has the most invested in Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakomoto, the mysterious founder of Bitcoin, is believed to also be the biggest holder of the coin. Analysis into early Bitcoin wallets has revealed that Nakamoto likely owns over 1 million of the nearly 19.5 million Bitcoins in existence.

Does Elon Musk own Bitcoin?

Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s association with both Bitcoin and the meme coin Dogecoin is well known, and both his tweets and Tesla’s actions have influenced the cryptocurrencies’ trajectories over the years.

While it is unknown just how much he owns, Musk has disclosed that he personally has holdings of Bitcoin and Dogecoin, as well as Ether. It was revealed in September 2023 that Musk may be funding Dogecoin on the quiet, according to Forbes.

As for Tesla, the company purchased US$1.5 billion of Bitcoin in 2021, but sold 75 percent of that the next year. As of July 2025, the EV maker’s Bitcoin holdings were estimated at 11,509 Bitcoin, the eigth-largest bitcoin holdings for a publicly traded company. In a January 2024 post on his social media platform X, Musk said “I still own a bunch of Dogecoin, and SpaceX owns a bunch of Bitcoin.’

What is uranium used for?

Uranium is primarily used for the production of nuclear energy, a form of clean energy created in nuclear power plants. In fact, 99 percent of uranium is used for this purpose. As of 2022, there were 439 active nuclear reactors, as per the International Atomic Energy Agency. Last year, 8 percent of US power came from nuclear energy.

The commodity is also used in the defense industry as a component of nuclear weaponry, among other uses. However, there are safeguards in effect to keep this to a minimum. To create weapons-grade uranium, the material has to be enriched significantly — above 90 percent — to the point that to achieve just 5.6 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium, it would require 1 metric ton of uranium pre-enrichment.

Because of this necessity, uranium enrichment facilities are closely monitored under international agreements. Uranium used for nuclear power production only needs to be enriched to 5 percent; nuclear enrichment facilities need special licenses to enrich above that point for uses such as research at 20 percent enrichment.

The metal is also used in the medical field for applications such as transmission electron microscopy. Before uranium was discovered to be radioactive, it was used to impart a yellow color to ceramic glazes and glass.

Where is uranium found?

The country with the greatest uranium reserves by far is Australia — the island nation holds 28 percent of the world’s uranium reserves. Rounding out the top three are Kazakhstan with 15 percent and Canada with 9 percent.

Although Australia has the highest reserves, it holds uranium as a low priority and is only fourth overall for production. All its uranium output is exported, with none used for domestic nuclear energy production.

Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer of the metal, with production of 21,227 metric tons in 2022. The country’s national uranium company, Kazatomprom, is the world’s largest producer.

Canada’s uranium reserves are found primarily in its Athabasca Basin, and the region is a top producer of the metal as well.

Why should I buy uranium stocks?

Investors should always do their own due diligence when looking at any commodity so that they can decide whether it fits into their investment plans. With that being said, many experts are convinced that uranium has entered into a significant bull market, meaning that uranium stocks could be a good buy.

A slew of factors have led to this bull market. While the uranium industry spent the last decade or so in a downturn following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, discourse has been building around the metal’s use as a source of clean energy, which is important for countries looking to reach climate goals. Nations are now prioritizing a mix of clean energies such as solar and wind energy alongside nuclear. Significantly, in August 2022, Japan announced it is looking into restarting its idled nuclear power plants and commissioning new ones.

Uranium prices are very important to uranium miners, as in recent years levels have not been high enough for production to be economic. However, in 2024, prices spiked from the US$58 in August 2023 to a high of US$106 per pound U3O8 in February 2024. They have since consolidated at around US$70, meaning this could be a buying point for those looking to get into the sector.