Ampco-Pittsburgh has closed 2025 with the highest figures in its history for the nuclear segment. Both orders and shipments have surpassed any previous year, and the trajectory shows no signs of slowing. The Aerofin division — the top heat exchanger supplier for nuclear power generation in North America — is at the heart of this growth.
The most significant milestone came in March 2025: Aerofin received its first order for a small modular reactor (SMR), a concrete threshold marking the company’s entry into what is currently the fastest-growing segment of the entire energy sector. During analyst calls, management confirmed that active discussions are underway with both sector startups and Westinghouse Electric Company regarding SMR opportunities. The supply chain is already moving before construction sites even break ground.
Aerofin’s positioning is no accident. Its specialized nuclear-grade welding capabilities — certified and difficult to replicate — represent a technical barrier that few competitors can clear. This advantage was already evident in the conventional reactor market, where the company has long served major North American utilities. That same expertise is now being brought to bear on new modular projects, where quality requirements are equally stringent but expected volumes are far greater.
Market conditions are favorable. By mid-2025, the global SMR project pipeline stood at approximately 47 gigawatts, with the United States accounting for roughly 53% of that total. Westinghouse, for its part, holds a portfolio of opportunities spanning 91 AP1000 reactors worldwide, totaling around 105 GWe, while simultaneously advancing NRC certification of its AP300 300 MWe SMR alongside Amentum. The U.S. administration has also signed an $80 billion agreement with Westinghouse for large-scale reactor construction, with the explicit goal of meeting surging demand from data centers.
For Ampco-Pittsburgh, already being embedded in this supply chain with real orders — not mere memoranda of understanding — is a meaningful distinction. The company has emphasized that its engineering and manufacturing capabilities position it at the beginning of a long-term growth cycle, not at the tail end of a mature market. The record-breaking orders of 2025 confirm that this assessment is not simply a forward projection: it is already reflected in the company’s order books.
If the SMR trajectory solidifies over the coming years — and institutional and government investment signals all point in the same direction — companies like Ampco-Pittsburgh, which have built certified nuclear competencies over decades of work on conventional reactors, will occupy a position that new entrants will find extremely hard to match. Nuclear supply chains take years to develop. Those already inside them, with signed orders and active production capacity, hold a structural advantage that the market is only now beginning to price in correctly.
