Fusion energy — the same process that powers the sun — could one day provide large amounts of low-pollution electricity, but commercial deployment remains years away. A $6 billion deal linking Trump Media and TAE Technologies highlights growing private-sector interest in the field. Major challenges include sustaining fusion reactions, developing materials that tolerate neutron bombardment, and scaling plants to integrate with electricity grids. Private investors have poured nearly $9 billion into fusion startups, with some aiming for pilot plants in the late 2020s to early 2030s.
Explainer: Fusion Energy — What It Is and Why Trump Media's $6 Billion Deal With TAE Matters
The Nasdaq Market site is seen on the day that shares of Truth Social and Trump Media & Technology Group start trading under the ticker "DJT", in New York City, U.S., March 26, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - For decades scientists and private companies have pursued fusion energy — the same process that powers the sun — as a potential source of large-scale, low-pollution electricity on Earth. A $6 billion agreement announced on Thursday to combine Trump Media and Technology Group with Google-backed TAE Technologies is the latest high-profile private-sector move in an industry that remains years from commercial deployment.
What Is Fusion?
Fusion produces energy when light atomic nuclei, typically isotopes of hydrogen, are forced together under extreme heat and pressure so they fuse and release vast amounts of energy. This is the same reaction that lights the sun and stars. By contrast, today's commercial nuclear power plants generate energy through fission, a process that splits heavy atoms.
Researchers in national laboratories and private companies are racing to reproduce sustained, controllable fusion on Earth because, if achieved at scale, it promises electricity with low local pollution and far less long-lived radioactive waste than current nuclear fission plants. Backers such as TAE Technologies and Commonwealth Fusion Systems say they aim to build demonstration plants and begin sending power to the grid in the late 2020s to early 2030s.
What Are the Main Hurdles?
In 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility reported a milestone: for the first time a laser-driven experiment produced more energy from fusion reactions in the fuel capsule than the energy absorbed by that fuel — a step often described as "ignition." However, the total energy delivered by the facility's lasers far exceeded the energy produced by the fusion reaction, and the achieved fusion events were brief.
To become a practical electricity source, fusion reactions must be sustained, controllable and repeatable over long periods. Developers also must solve significant engineering challenges: designing reactors and materials that can withstand continuous neutron bombardment, efficiently capturing fusion energy and integrating new plants into existing grids or building new infrastructure at scale.
What Technologies Are Being Pursued?
Most fusion efforts fall into two broad approaches: inertial confinement, which uses intense lasers or particle beams to compress fuel (as at Lawrence Livermore), and magnetic confinement, which uses powerful magnetic fields to hold hot plasma long enough for fusion to occur. TAE Technologies favors magnetic confinement combined with neutral beam injection rather than laser-driven approaches. Other companies pursue variations such as pulsed magnetic compression or magnetized target fusion.
Who Is Investing And Where Is The Work Happening?
The United States hosts the largest number of private fusion developers — the Fusion Industry Association lists about 29 firms — with additional developers in the U.K., China, Germany, Japan and elsewhere. China appears to be constructing a large laser-based fusion research center in Mianyang; analysts note that such facilities can advance both civilian energy research and capabilities relevant to weapons-related science.
Private investment in fusion has surged: the Fusion Industry Association reported nearly $9 billion in private funding to date. Major industrial and technology companies — including Chevron, Siemens Energy, Nucor and Alphabet (Google's parent) — have taken stakes in fusion startups. Helion Energy, backed by investors including OpenAI's Sam Altman and SoftBank, announced construction this year on a site it intends to use to supply Microsoft data centers by 2028.
Outlook
Fusion remains a promising but technically and economically challenging path to low-carbon baseload power. The recent Trump Media–TAE announcement underscores growing private interest and high-dollar deals in the sector, but widespread commercial fusion power is still expected to be many years away and will depend on overcoming major scientific and engineering barriers.
