Sprott's John Ciampaglia on Uranium and SPUT
Summary
Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (SPUT) has bought roughly 7 million pounds of U3O8 so far in 2026, racing toward its 9-million-pound annual purchase limit.
Hyperscalers (the cloud and AI operators) are signing long-term power agreements, pulling fresh capital into uranium as AI data centers demand baseload power.
Western utilities are quietly returning to RFPs (requests for proposals) to refill depleted inventories, while China builds around 8 new nuclear reactors per year.
Despite a quiet 2026 spot and term market, Sprott is seeing renewed rotation into uranium equities and inflows across copper, gold and silver products.
Sprott argues the broader commodity bull cycle is in its early-to-middle innings, as decades of underinvestment set up structural supply deficits.
Jimmy Connor's takeaways
- Top takeaway As host, Jimmy Connor frames the conversation around investor sentiment and macro crosscurrents — the Middle East conflict, oil up 50–60% on the year, and rising global bond yields — and asks the headline question on how an AI IPO wobble could affect uranium.
- He drives the deep-dive segments on SPUT's 2026 activity, the $90 spot context, and flows into Sprott's copper, gold, and silver products.
John Ciampaglia's takeaways
- Top takeaway John's core thesis is that uranium fundamentals are getting stronger regardless of macro noise — a structural supply deficit underpins the story and he expects investors to keep looking past short-term distractions.
- He argues the AI and hyperscaler linkage to nuclear is structural even if some AI IPOs disappoint: hyperscalers need baseload power for data centers, are funding small modular reactors, and signing long-dated, high-value power purchase agreements.
- On SPUT specifically, he highlights record five-quarter capital raises, about 7 million lbs bought in 2026 so far on the way to a 9 million lb annual limit, and holdings growing from roughly 18 million lbs at the July 2021 launch to just under 82 million lbs now.
- He is broadly bullish on critical materials — uranium, copper, rare earths, battery metals — and argues the current commodity bull is prolonged because of the prior 10–15 years of underinvestment, putting the cycle in the early-to-middle innings.
- On gold and silver, John says gold has found a bottom near $4,000 and that hard assets look attractive given the US bond market showdown, rising yields, persistent inflation pressure, and very high global debt levels.