PRIVATE MILESTONES | FUSION
support the next generation of machines planned for 2030 and beyond. More recently, fusion company Inertia Enterprises
raised $450m from Google Ventures and others to commercialise its fusion pilot plant based on what it says will be the world’s most powerful laser, Thunderwall. This will deliver a 10 kJ beam 10 times per second with 10% efficiency. Alongside the laser, a production line will mass manufacture fuel targets at scale. “Our plan is clear: build on proven science to develop
the technology and supply chain required to deliver the world’s highest average power laser, the first fusion target assembly plant, and the first gigawatt, utility- scale fusion power plant to the grid. Inertia is building the team, partnerships, and capabilities to make this real within the next decade,” said Jeff Lawson, the co- founder and CEO of Inertia. Inertia co-founder Dr. Annie Kritcher served as the
lead designer of fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and its inertial confinement fusion design, including the hohlraum, capsule, and laser specifications. In December 2022, that design enabled the first controlled fusion experiment to achieve net target energy gain. “In just three years, we’ve gone from the first experiment to ever produce more fusion energy than was delivered to the target, to repeating that result many times and pushing the target gain higher,” said Kritcher. “Inertia represents our first investment into the direct fusion market, because it is the first company that we’ve seen with a clear roadmap to commercial energy that’s compelled us to act,” said Byron Deeter, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners who led the investment round. Another privately-financed fusion company is
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). Last year the company raised $863m in a fundraising round which followed a $1.8bn round in 2021. CFS is using the new funds to complete its SPARC tokamak demonstration machine and progress on development work on its first ARC power plant, which will be located in Chesterfield County,Virginia, USA and rated at 400 MW. Late last year CFS announced a power offtake agreement worth more than $1bn had been signed by Italy’s Eni, expanding on a longstanding strategic partnership between the two companies. The power purchase agreement (PPA) relates to the
ARC plant, which is expected to connect to the grid in the early 2030s. Detailed financial terms weren’t disclosed but it is the second offtake agreement that CFS had signed in three months for its first grid- scale fusion power plant. “The agreement with Eni demonstrates the value of fusion energy on the grid. It is a big vote of confidence to have Eni, who has contributed to our execution since the beginning, buy the power we intend to make in Virginia,” said Bob Mumgaard, Co-founder and CEO of CFS commenting on the deal. Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi, added: “Eni has been strengthening its collaboration with CFS through its technological know-how since it first invested in the company in 2018. As energy demand grows, Eni supports the development of fusion power as a new energy paradigm.” CFS followed up the ENI deal with an agreement earlier this year to develop a digital twin of its SPARC
machine. The collaborations with NVIDIA and Siemens will apply artificial intelligence (AI) and data and project management tools to accelerate commercial fusion using data from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industrial software. CFS will also use NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and OpenUSD to integrate data with classical and AI-powered physics models to create the digital twin of SPARC to run simulations, test hypotheses, and compare experimental results with simulations. Said Mumgaard: “Through this collaboration, we’re demonstrating how AI and integrated digital engineering can accelerate progress from design to grid power. This will allow us to transform how we build and operate fusion machines in the race to commercial fusion.” Meanwhile, a New Zealand-based fusion energy
company has also recently raised funding to build a new research facility. OpenStar Technologies secured a NZ$35m (US$21m) commitment from the government’s Regional Infrastructure Fund to further their research. The new facility will be used to house the company’s next-generation device ‘Tahi’. The current prototype device, ‘Junior’ achieved first
plasma within two years using a unique approach known as a levitated dipole in which a powerful 500 kg superconducting magnet is levitated inside a large vacuum chamber. The Tahi will feature a magnetic field four times
stronger than Junior performing at up to 20 Tesla. During one experiment, OpenStar broke the record for energy stored in a magnet at 170 kJ. The levitated dipole has its roots in research across Japan and the United States after Dr Akira Hasegawa proposed the dipole in 1987 while at Bell Labs. OpenStar CEO Ratu Mataira said: “The levitated
dipole… is a much faster and cheaper way of pushing into this space. We’re the people that are going to catch up quick and play at that international level.” While it is clear that some significant engineering
hurdles still remain if commercial fusion is to become a reality, with cash flowing into the sector the fundamental research needed to bridge that knowledge gap is advancing at pace. ■
www.neimagazine.com | March 2026 | 31
OpenStar aims to scale to a commercial device in production by the 2030s. Source: OpenStar
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