TAE Technologies raised $150M to advance fusion energy
Nobody ever claimed that commercializing fusion energy would be fast—or cheap. But TAE Technologies, one of the most well-funded players in the fusion race, continues to push forward with substantial backing from deep-pocketed investors.
This week, the company announced it raised an additional $150 million in a funding round that included contributions from existing backers such as Google, Chevron, and New Enterprise Associates. With this latest round, TAE has secured a total of approximately $1.8 billion across 12 investment rounds, making it one of the most well-funded fusion companies globally.
Founded nearly 30 years ago as Tri Alpha Energy, TAE spent much of its early life in stealth mode, developing a unique approach to nuclear fusion. Unlike the more traditional tokamak-style reactors that rely on massive external magnetic fields to contain superheated plasma, TAE’s design generates a spinning plasma structure—imagine a hollow cigar of charged particles—that sustains itself in part by creating its own magnetic field. The company originally formed this plasma by firing two plasma “balls” at each other, then stabilizing the resulting structure with particle beams.
But in April, TAE revealed a major simplification to this process. The company announced it had eliminated the need for the initial plasma collision entirely. Now, it can form, heat, and stabilize the plasma using only particle beams. This change significantly reduces the size, cost, and complexity of the reactor, making it more viable as a commercial power source.
TAE’s longstanding partnership with Google has also been a key factor in its progress. Since 2014, Google’s AI and machine learning tools have helped TAE engineers optimize the complex conditions needed for stable fusion. What once took two months and a thousand experiments can now be achieved in just a few hours, thanks to AI-driven optimization—a leap that has dramatically accelerated R&D timelines.
Currently, TAE’s fusion reactors can produce plasmas heated to an astonishing 70 million degrees Celsius. For commercial power production, however, the target is far hotter: 1 billion degrees Celsius. If achieved, that would be a critical milestone on the path toward making fusion power a reliable, clean, and virtually limitless source of electricity.
TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer told Axios he is still aiming to raise another $50 million before this round officially closes later in the summer. The company remains focused on putting electrons on the grid by the early 2030s.
TAE’s progress underscores the broader momentum within the private fusion sector. While many hurdles remain, the latest funding round signals that major investors still believe in fusion’s promise—and TAE’s ability to deliver.
