Fusion Power’s New Race: Startups Betting Big on Star Energy

Fusion energy has teased scientists for decades—always promising, never quite within reach. Now, a wave of startups is sprinting to turn the dream of harnessing the sun’s power into reality, backed by billions in investment and fresh breakthroughs.

Chasing the Sun’s Power on Earth

Fusion power isn’t new. It’s the process that fuels our sun, where atoms smash together and release huge amounts of energy. The trick has been replicating that on Earth in a controlled way that produces more energy than it consumes. For years, fusion was stuck in theory and expensive experiments. But recent advances have pushed the needle closer to practical fusion reactors that could feed electricity to the grid.

The big challenge? Getting more power out than you put in. Scientists call this "breakeven" — a milestone one U.S. Department of Energy lab crossed in late 2022 when its fusion experiment produced more energy than the lasers used to start the reaction. But the leap to commercial breakeven, where the entire plant yields net energy, remains ahead.

Still, fusion startups are sprinting toward that goal with fresh energy and cash. They’ve raised more than $10 billion combined, with a dozen companies each pulling in over $100 million. That’s partly because data centers and other energy-hungry industries are hungry for clean power alternatives. Plus, new tech like AI and powerful superconducting magnets have transformed how fusion devices are designed and controlled.

Magnetic Confinement: The Tokamak and Beyond

One popular approach uses magnetic fields to trap and squeeze plasma—a hot, charged gas where fusion happens. These fields need to be insanely strong. Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a leader in the field, is crafting magnets that can generate 20 teslas—about 13 times stronger than an MRI machine’s magnets.

They use high-temperature superconductors cooled to nearly absolute zero with liquid helium to handle the massive electric currents required.

CFS is building Sparc, a demonstration reactor in Massachusetts. Sparc’s design is based on a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped chamber wrapped in superconducting tape to create a magnetic cage. The company aims to produce power levels that are commercially relevant—a first in the private sector.

Since its founding, CFS has raised close to $3 billion, including a massive $863 million round last year. That bankroll puts it ahead in the race, but the Sparc reactor won’t fire up until next year, leaving its real-world performance unproven.

Innovating Cheaper Paths: Pacific Fusion’s Pulsed Approach

Not all startups are following the same playbook. Pacific Fusion is betting on a different style of fusion called pulsed-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Instead of steady magnetic fields, it uses rapid pulses of electricity to compress tiny fuel pellets — about the size of a pencil eraser — so fast that atoms inside fuse and release energy.

This method is similar to experiments at the National Ignition Facility, which uses lasers to compress fuel. But Pacific Fusion swaps lasers for powerful electrical pulses that create magnetic fields around each pellet, causing it to implode in less than 100 billionths of a second. The faster the implosion, the hotter the fuel gets, increasing the chance of fusion.

One hurdle with pulsed ICF has been the need for a "kick-start"—extra energy from lasers or magnets to heat the pellet before compression. Pacific Fusion recently announced experiments that could eliminate some costly parts of this process, potentially lowering the overall reactor cost. The company shared these findings exclusively, showing promise for more affordable fusion power plants.

Why Fusion Matters Now More Than Ever

Fusion promises round-the-clock clean energy without the radioactive waste of traditional nuclear fission plants. That’s a big deal for a world hungry for reliable and greener power sources. If startups crack the code, it could shake up the trillion-dollar energy market and help meet soaring electricity demand from tech industries and everyday consumers.

Yet, the timeline is still years away. Most fusion companies hope to bring commercial reactors online in the early to mid-2030s. They face huge technical challenges and expensive builds. Still, the recent surge in funding and breakthroughs shows the fusion field is finally stepping out of the shadows of skepticism.

Meanwhile, advances in AI and computing power keep speeding up reactor designs and simulations. That means startups can test ideas faster and optimize control systems for fusion reactions that were impossible just a few years ago.

Startups like Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Pacific Fusion are racing different routes but share one goal: making fusion a workable, affordable energy source. Whether it’s magnetic confinement or pulsed fusion, the energy of the stars might soon power our cities.

With billions flowing in and reactors nearing test runs, fusion power’s long promise may finally be within reach. But will these startups turn their visions into watts? The next few years will tell.