How Fusion Startups Are Finally Making It Work

Fusion power plants could generate massive amounts of clean electricity from fuel that’s virtually unlimited. The catch: scientists have been chasing this for decades. Now a wave of startups is actually making progress.

The basic idea is simple. Smash hydrogen atoms together at extreme temperatures and pressure. They fuse into helium and release enormous energy. No carbon emissions. No meltdowns. The problem is the engineering—containing plasma hotter than the sun’s core without it destroying the reactor.

Two main approaches are competing. Magnetic confinement uses powerful magnets to hold plasma in a donut-shaped chamber. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, backed by Bill Gates and others, is building SPARC, a reactor designed to prove the concept works commercially. TAE Technologies is also pursuing magnetic fusion with a different design.

Inertial confinement goes another route: blast fuel pellets with lasers so intense they implode and fuse. This is what the National Ignition Facility demonstrated in late 2022—the first time a fusion reaction produced more energy than was put in. Startups like Type One Energy and Helion Energy are building commercial reactors based on similar principles.

No fusion plant is generating power to the grid yet. But the companies are moving fast. Commonwealth Fusion aims to have SPARC operating by 2028. Helion has major contracts with energy buyers. The race is on.