Fusion Fortnightly | 2026-10-27
No fluff, all facts. Helion and CFS to receive up to $260 million in CHIPS Act funding. Hephaestus raises $17.2 million to make rare-earth-free superconductors. TMTG CEO says TAE merger helps make them "uncancelable".
Companies, financing, and commercial development
Helion and CFS to receive up to $260 million in CHIPS Act funding. The U.S. Department of Commerce signed letters of intent to provide up to $175 million to Helion and $85 million to CFS, together accounting for two-thirds of a $389 million round of semiconductor R&D funding. Helion will continue developing high-voltage equipment for its pulsed-power systems. Its project also includes $50 million in private investment. CFS will develop power electronics, RF heating generators, fast plasma controllers, radiation-hardened electronics, and AI-related hardware for future ARC plants. The projects fall within the CHIPS Act’s mandate to support advanced semiconductor development and domestic manufacturing capabilities.
The federal government will receive minority, nonvoting equity stakes in both companies in exchange for the funding. For Helion, the government would receive a $175 million equity interest valued at the company’s most recent Series G financing; the terms for CFS have not been disclosed. I welcome my American taxpayer readers as fellow owners of CFS if that is now the case! Specific technical milestones and payment conditions are not public. There has been some noise about the administration favoring Helion because of Kushner family investments through Thrive Capital, which I find a bit overblown. After all, TAE is merging with Trump Media and Technology Group and has its own power-electronics business, yet it received no CHIPS funding. Helion’s pulsed-power work is one of the few things the company is doing that is of genuine value.
Marathon Fusion reports its first production of gold from mercury using fusion neutrons, improving on a CERN benchmark by 10x. It also claims a new plasma-centrifuge isotope-enrichment milestone.
Hephaestus raises $17.2 million to make rare-earth-free HTS and negative-triangularity tokamaks. The company plans to start manufacturing its new HTS materials at a 70,000-square-foot facility in New Jersey in 2027 and targets a Q>1 reactor demonstration by 2030 (essentially impossible). The company claims to have discovered and fabricated novel rare-earth-free HTS materials using AI, with laboratory characterization by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory. It has not disclosed the key performance data needed to assess their relevance for fusion devices. Rare-earth-free HTS materials already exist (e.g., Bi-2212), but none have yet matched REBCO’s combination of high-field performance and manufacturing scalability. Rare-earth material costs are negligible for HTS: 10,000 km of 4-mm-wide REBCO tape (the quantity CFS recently announced purchasing, roughly half of what an ARC plant needs) contains only around 80 kg of yttrium, which is worth just a few thousand dollars. Chinese export restrictions pose a procurement risk (see Japan faces a potential yttrium supply squeeze as Chinese export restrictions tighten), but the much larger challenge for fusion is manufacturing sufficient quantities of affordable, high-quality HTS tape.
Cambridge Heavy Industries raises $6.2 million for compact laser fusion. The MIT spinout raised a seed round led by Azolla Ventures. CHI says its approach can generate extreme target pressures with relatively little laser energy and has reported a compression pressure of approximately 350 GPa using tens of millijoules (remember that fusion requires sufficient temperature as well as density). It is exploring tritium production, neutron imaging, and materials testing as intermediate markets.
Gauss Fusion closes its Seed-to-A round and opens a Series A. No information was provided on how much was raised.
Starlight Engine signs a strategic investment agreement with the TAKANAWA GATEWAY Global Co-Benefits Fund, which is associated with a major rail and infrastructure company. The investment amount was not disclosed.
Helical Fusion agrees to a proposed investment through an individual-investor fund. Japan’s Helical Fusion signed a basic agreement with eCloud for an investment through a dedicated single-stock fund serving individual investors.
Borealis Fusion launches with $6 million to pursue a proton-boron tandem mirror. The company is developing PRISM, a proton-boron rotating-ion-separation mirror descended from tandem-mirror confinement. Several founders previously worked on the 1¢/kWh Fusion Energy study and Princeton-associated p–B11 research.
First Light Fusion wins a UK defense contract for hypervelocity-impact research. The company plans to fire steel projectiles into graphite at speeds above 3 km/s and measure the response using its gas gun, pulsed-power systems, diagnostics, simulations, and proprietary amplification technology.
Stellios Technologies raises $5 million for high-power microwave systems. Its products initially target counter-drone and other counter-electronics applications, but the company also identifies fusion heating as a potential market.
Chinese fusion supplier Hefei Keye reportedly raises a Series A. There is little detail available, including on the round size or the company’s products.
Blue Laser Fusion files SEC Form D. It has raised $34.1 million from 149 investors toward its planned $50 million offering, up from $25 million and 118 investors in September.
American Fusion retracts explanation for auditor’s resignation in SEC Form 8-K. American Fusion walked back its claim earlier this month that its auditor, JV CPA, resigned for health reasons. The auditor gave no reason for its departure. The auditor’s previous reports raised substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. American Fusion engaged MBP Global as its replacement.
TMTG CEO discusses TAE merger, financing strategy, and commercialization plans in an SEC-filed interview transcript. McGurn explicitly described TMTG’s balance sheet, access to public capital markets, and retail shareholder base as resources for financing a five- to ten-year bet on fusion. He also argued that owning an energy company would help make Truth Social “uncancellable” by securing its energy supply, despite TAE having no commercial fusion generation capability.
Supply chain, manufacturing, and enabling technology
Fusion for Energy signs first IFMIF-DONES procurement arrangements for an injector and EUROFER steel. The first two European in-kind supply agreements for the fusion-neutron materials-testing facility cover its deuteron-beam injector and 15 tonnes of reduced-activation steel.
DOE designates helium a critical material. In a few decades, perhaps fusion energy will be producing much of the helium it needs.
Fusion for Energy publishes a report on building Europe’s fusion supply chain. F4E has released an industrial analysis of the specialist suppliers, production capabilities, and quality systems developed through almost two decades of European ITER contracts.
Government, regulation, and public programs
UK Fusion Energy’s annual report reveals STEP spending, supplier growth, and governance weaknesses. UK Fusion Energy reports spending £118.8 million in 2025–26, working with 371 British suppliers, and directing 80% of its expenditures domestically.
Israel proposes three levels of investment in a national fusion strategy. Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure published options ranging from NIS 50–100 million ($16.5–33 million) over five years for research and training to a NIS 1–2 billion ($330–660 million) national program over seven to ten years that could involve a larger experimental facility. Lasers, RF, power electronics, materials, AI, and robotics are identified as areas where Israeli industry could contribute to the global fusion supply chain.
Shanghai’s new industrial plan backs fusion equipment. It includes high-temperature-superconducting tokamaks and other fusion technologies. The plan covers first-of-a-kind applications, industrial development, standards, financing, and manufacturing.
Max Planck and Columbia establish a $13.3 million fusion research center. The Max Planck Columbia Center will connect Columbia University with Wendelstein 7-X, ASDEX Upgrade, and German and U.S. plasma research groups. Carlos Paz-Soldan and Thomas Klinger will co-direct the center.
IFMIF-DONES partners approve a 2027 program and revised international governance terms.
Legal experts warn that public engagement may be a critical path for fusion permitting. FELEX, a group of specialists in fusion law and regulation, published a discussion of public participation and acceptance.
EUROfusion names recipients of its 2026 researcher and engineering grants.
Virginia radiation advisers warn they have no dedicated resources for fusion oversight. Draft minutes of the October 7 Radiation Advisory Board meeting report that Virginia’s Office of Radiological Health is already spending staff time on fusion-related regulatory issues without dedicated funding. The minutes also note that “unresolved issues could complicate the licensing process” for CFS.
Virginia officials outline the local preparations needed for CFS’s planned ARC site. The report examines how Virginia’s public agencies and local institutions are approaching the proposed ARC project in Chesterfield County. The discussion covers workforce, infrastructure, public engagement, and regulation, alongside hopes for local economic development.