The $6 billion merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and California’s TAE Technologies has sent a shock wave through the fusion industry — and is drawing skepticism from competitors in the Pacific Northwest’s fusion hub.
The partnership aims to site and begin building what it calls the world’s first utility-scale fusion plant next year, with Trump Media committing $300 million in near-term funding.
Physicists for decades have pursued fusion energy, a nearly limitless source of carbon-free power produced by smashing together light atoms in conditions hotter than the sun. So far, no one has demonstrated a fusion technology that’s financially viable for putting electricity on the grid, and some experts believe the field is still many years from that goal.
TAE, however, claimed on Thursday that it has cracked the riddle.
“We have the science solved,” Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE, told The New York Times. TAE has the engineering ready, he said, but has lacked sufficient capital despite raising $1.3 billion from investors.
President Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, the publicly traded parent company of the social media platform Truth Social. His stake — reportedly worth more than $1 billion — is held in a trust managed by his eldest son
Trump Media’s value spiked nearly 50% following news of the merger, which would make TAE one of the first fusion companies to go public.
Washington competitors push back
TAE’s claims triggered pushback in Washington state, home to several fusion companies racing to commercialize the technology.
Helion Energy in July broke ground on what it says will be the first fusion plant to put power on the grid starting in 2028. Pragav Jain, Helion’s chief financial officer, welcomed the merger news while reasserting the company’s head start.
“This is a positive signal for the industry as a whole,” Jain said via email. “The world needs fusion and we’re seeing strong support both from customers and investors, so it’s not surprising to see deals like this.”
Everett-based Helion has raised more than $1 billion and is actively constructing Orion, its planned commercial facility in Eastern Washington. “We’re leading the way to make fusion a reality,” Jain added.
Zap Energy, a fusion company located down the road from Helion, didn’t provide an official comment on the deal when contacted by GeekWire. But spokesperson Andy Freeberg challenged the assertion that anyone has mastered fusion.
“The science has come a long way over several decades of work and is mature enough to build ventures around, that’s very exciting,” Freeberg said on LinkedIn. “But even a superficial knowledge of the state of the technology will show you it’s far from ‘solved’ and statements like this from someone who obviously knows better are completely disingenuous.”
Zap has $330 million from investors and notched scientific milestones, but has been more cautious in setting its own near-time deadlines for commercialized fusion.
Robin Langtry, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Avalanche Energy, which is building smaller-scale fusion devices, praised the deal.
TAE has made “some significant breakthroughs recently” that fusion proponents “should celebrate,” Langtry said via email. He added that the substantial funding needed for fusion infrastructure is tough to raise through venture capital or a traditional IPO.
“In that context a merger with a public company that in principle already has the deep pockets to raise the necessary funds makes a lot of sense,” Langtry added.
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