COMING OF AGE? | FUSION
Fusion, funding and the future
Continued investment in fusion technology is being met with significant steps on the road to commercial development. Is the age of fusion finally dawning?
FUSION COMPANIES RAISED A TOTAL of $2.64bn of investment in the 12 months to July 2025. According to The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) and its latest Global Fusion Industry Report. This sum is the highest since 2022 and marks a 178% increase on the figure from 2024. Of the 53 fusion companies featured in the report, total funding stands at $9.766bn. This, says the FIA, is a five-fold increase since 2021. This total includes several major funding rounds including the $900m Series A raise for US-based Pacific Fusion, which emerged from stealth in November 2024. Other significant rounds included a $425m Series F raise for US-based Helion in January 2025, and the €113m ($132m) Series B raise for Germany-based Marvel Fusion. Financial backing for the sector is coming from a wide
range of investors, the report says, including deep tech venture capital firms such as DCVC and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. In addition, industrial giants such as Chevron, Siemens Energy and Nucor have also pitched into the fusion sector, as well as sovereign investors and quasi-public funds. This includes bodies such as In-Q-Tel, the European Innovation Council Fund, and Plynth Energy. The FIA report also identifies strategic players from the energy sector like Shell Ventures and Energy Impact Partners who are ramping up overall investment in the sector. Crucially, public funding invested in fusion companies also increased by 84% from 2024, the FIA says. This is up by almost $360m to nearly $800m in total.
Taking stock of the fusion landscape Based on answers to a survey issued to private fusion companies, this is the fifth annual Global Fusion Industry Report from the FIA. With 53 fusion companies responding to the survey, this is up from 23 in 2021 with a further eight new entrants contributing since the last survey in 2024. The report provides a view of the growth of the fusion
sector and progress towards commercial fusion and makes for broadly positive reading. However, despite the reported growth 83% of survey respondents still consider investment a major challenge. Asked how much more investment each company would need to bring their first pilot plants online, responses ranged from $3m to $12.5bn, with a median response of $700m. While this is eight times more than has been committed to the industry to date, the report emphasises that this should not be taken as the total investment needed, as there will inevitably be some market consolidation. Nevertheless, fusion companies remain confident in their timelines for delivering fusion-generated electricity to the grid, with 84% targeting the end of the 2030s and 53% 2035. Several recent breakthroughs suggest this confidence is not wildly misplaced, despite the long-standing reputation of fusion as a technology which is always decades away. Recently, for example, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and US start-up Type One Energy signed the first set of commercial contracts related to Project Infinity, a programme that aims to develop fusion power plant
Above: Fusion start-up Type One Energy aims to develop fusion power plant technology to supply the Tennessee Valley with energy by the mid-2030s
www.neimagazine.com | August 2025 | 35
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