Released August 05, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
en
Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As an idea, nuclear fusion looks great. No pollution, no chance of a Three Mile Island meltdown, cheap power once it gets going. But when investors ask, "Where's the beef?" the answers are less certain. Why do they keep investing?
Well, there is progress. Researchers in Germany and France have recently announced breakthroughs of achieving fusion reaction durations of less than one minute. That's a bit shy of the years-at-a-time needed for the grid.
Still, in the last few years, investment has ballooned. Exponentially.
That investment explosion is seen in the numbers assembled by a recent Fusion Industry Association (FIA) member poll, presented at the July 24 Reuters webinar "The Future of Fusion: Driving Commercial Success," the first part of which was covered here.
For one thing, the private company count has exploded, from just one in 1985 to 53 for the FIA's 2025 survey. That's up from just 23 for the association's first survey four years ago in 2021, said the webinar's moderator, the FIA's Andrew Holland. He stressed that the count shows more than the apparent 30 new companies, because some of the previous 23 went under, so the 53 represents more than 30 startups in four years. In 2021, the total funding reported for the fusion industry's history was $2 billion. For 2025, it's almost five times that, at $9.7 billion.
To the question of how these companies have raised billions of dollars dating back to the dawns of serious research in 1998--without generating any electricity or profit--the webinar's three panelists responded almost as one. They said they strive for transparency and trust, showing investors their progress, their challenges, along with the possibilities for changing the world (and, no doubt, creating a return on investment).
Panelists included: Jim McNiel, chief growth officer of TAE Technologies (Foothill Ranch, California); Rick Needham, chief commercial officer for Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) (Devens, Massachusetts); and Jackie Siebens, director of public affairs for Helion Energy (Everett, Washington).
Siebens noted that Helion signed a power offtake agreement with Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Washington) two years ago --which would also provide investment funding--for an A50 MW fusion generator in Washington, with power to be flowing by 2028.
On July 30 Helion announced the start of construction on that plant, named Orion. Under the power purchase agreement (PPA), Microsoft will begin buying power from Orion when completed. Helion says the plant is on schedule for the 2028 deadline. Constellation Energy Corporation (Baltimore, Maryland) will be the power marketer.
Steel producer Nucor Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina) has also provided funding for Helion as part of an offtake agreement for greening up the steel production process.
And CFS has received funding from Virginia's Dominion Energy Incorporated (Richmond, Virginia) for a 400-megawatt (MW) net power fusion plant to be built on Dominion land in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Google Incorporated (Mountain View, California), another investor in the project, will take about half the 400 MW output, with the rest going into Dominion's grid.
CFS's Needham added that investors are starting to see a fulfillment of the potential at hand, and are getting excited on their own about what they see as the approach of success.
For McNiel, funding is best obtained by working to prove his company's fusion concept is the fastest path to scalability and profitability, with the goal of moving TAE technologies to the top of the funders' investment list.
Government investment would be nice, they agreed, especially since China is investing billions in the industry. Participants compared the urgency of fusion development to the Manhattan project of WWII that was the dawn of the nuclear fission age. They also pointed out that the U.S. has invented several energy systems, including solar, whose industries at scale are overwhelmingly run by China.
Because of the Chinese cash infusion, the participants were looking for investment, not only for development, but also in scaling, to keep the U.S. ahead of the game all the way through deployment.
Cancer Treatment Surprise
Similar to the U.S. space program that gave nonstick Teflon to kitchens around the world, fusion research seems to have engendered unexpected side benefits.
Through a particle beam technology that helps TAE reach the 1.5 billion degrees required for its fusion reaction, McNiel said that same beam can be fired through a lithium film that emits a neutron beam on the backside. The neutron beam can then be used to "create a drug that can deliver boron as a vector to cancer cells."
He continued, "When those neutrons come in touch with those boron atoms, they (the boron atoms) implode. And when they implode inside of that cancer cell, they split the double DNA strand and they destroy the cell--but none of the collateral cells."
He said the company had tested the procedure on 50 patients with Stage-4 glioblastoma and other cancers in China, "and we've had virtually 100% remission in these cases." TAE is building plants in Portugal and Italy for this treatment, which they've named "boron neutron cellular therapy," and also is seeking U.S. partners.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
Well, there is progress. Researchers in Germany and France have recently announced breakthroughs of achieving fusion reaction durations of less than one minute. That's a bit shy of the years-at-a-time needed for the grid.
Still, in the last few years, investment has ballooned. Exponentially.
That investment explosion is seen in the numbers assembled by a recent Fusion Industry Association (FIA) member poll, presented at the July 24 Reuters webinar "The Future of Fusion: Driving Commercial Success," the first part of which was covered here.
For one thing, the private company count has exploded, from just one in 1985 to 53 for the FIA's 2025 survey. That's up from just 23 for the association's first survey four years ago in 2021, said the webinar's moderator, the FIA's Andrew Holland. He stressed that the count shows more than the apparent 30 new companies, because some of the previous 23 went under, so the 53 represents more than 30 startups in four years. In 2021, the total funding reported for the fusion industry's history was $2 billion. For 2025, it's almost five times that, at $9.7 billion.
To the question of how these companies have raised billions of dollars dating back to the dawns of serious research in 1998--without generating any electricity or profit--the webinar's three panelists responded almost as one. They said they strive for transparency and trust, showing investors their progress, their challenges, along with the possibilities for changing the world (and, no doubt, creating a return on investment).
Panelists included: Jim McNiel, chief growth officer of TAE Technologies (Foothill Ranch, California); Rick Needham, chief commercial officer for Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) (Devens, Massachusetts); and Jackie Siebens, director of public affairs for Helion Energy (Everett, Washington).
Siebens noted that Helion signed a power offtake agreement with Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Washington) two years ago --which would also provide investment funding--for an A50 MW fusion generator in Washington, with power to be flowing by 2028.
On July 30 Helion announced the start of construction on that plant, named Orion. Under the power purchase agreement (PPA), Microsoft will begin buying power from Orion when completed. Helion says the plant is on schedule for the 2028 deadline. Constellation Energy Corporation (Baltimore, Maryland) will be the power marketer.
Steel producer Nucor Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina) has also provided funding for Helion as part of an offtake agreement for greening up the steel production process.
And CFS has received funding from Virginia's Dominion Energy Incorporated (Richmond, Virginia) for a 400-megawatt (MW) net power fusion plant to be built on Dominion land in Chesterfield County, Virginia. Google Incorporated (Mountain View, California), another investor in the project, will take about half the 400 MW output, with the rest going into Dominion's grid.
CFS's Needham added that investors are starting to see a fulfillment of the potential at hand, and are getting excited on their own about what they see as the approach of success.
For McNiel, funding is best obtained by working to prove his company's fusion concept is the fastest path to scalability and profitability, with the goal of moving TAE technologies to the top of the funders' investment list.
Government investment would be nice, they agreed, especially since China is investing billions in the industry. Participants compared the urgency of fusion development to the Manhattan project of WWII that was the dawn of the nuclear fission age. They also pointed out that the U.S. has invented several energy systems, including solar, whose industries at scale are overwhelmingly run by China.
Because of the Chinese cash infusion, the participants were looking for investment, not only for development, but also in scaling, to keep the U.S. ahead of the game all the way through deployment.
Cancer Treatment Surprise
Similar to the U.S. space program that gave nonstick Teflon to kitchens around the world, fusion research seems to have engendered unexpected side benefits.
Through a particle beam technology that helps TAE reach the 1.5 billion degrees required for its fusion reaction, McNiel said that same beam can be fired through a lithium film that emits a neutron beam on the backside. The neutron beam can then be used to "create a drug that can deliver boron as a vector to cancer cells."
He continued, "When those neutrons come in touch with those boron atoms, they (the boron atoms) implode. And when they implode inside of that cancer cell, they split the double DNA strand and they destroy the cell--but none of the collateral cells."
He said the company had tested the procedure on 50 patients with Stage-4 glioblastoma and other cancers in China, "and we've had virtually 100% remission in these cases." TAE is building plants in Portugal and Italy for this treatment, which they've named "boron neutron cellular therapy," and also is seeking U.S. partners.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).
