Major backers Chevron and New Enterprise Associates are following suit with Google by investing in TAE Technologies most recently, with Google adding significantly deepened its investment in nuclear fusion by participating in TAE Technologies $150 million funding round.
TAE’s R$300 ($78) million Series H is the fusion startup’s 12th capital raise and brings its total capital raised to roughly $1.8 billion, ranking as one of the most heavily funded fusion startups in the world
More simply, more smartly and more quickly advancing fusion innovation.
Funded by Stephen P. Bechtel Jr., the grandfather of Bechtel’s chief executive and namesake, employee Stephen Howe and other friends of TAE Technologies (formerly Tri Alpha Energy) have persevered through stifling secret missions for years. Originally it was going to be a particle beam based design where they would throw the plasma blobs together with their particle beams and spin them into this toroidal (cigar shaped) plasma. But, a recent crucial milestone allows for the generation, inulation and stabilizing of plasma by only particles beam(s), without any need for the dual blob initiation. This results in their reactor being smaller, cheaper to run and more practical to run.
At present, their prototypes produce plasma that hovers at around 70 million °C; but they want to reach the billion‑degree mark and that could lead to a commercial reactor.
And CEO Michl Binderbauer of TAE sees power from fusion feeding into the grid by the early 2030s.
Fusion research is supercharged with AI
The plasma control of TAE is already optimized since 2014 using machine learning, in collaboration with Google. This has sped experimental work up dramatically: what used to take 1000 experiments two months can now be done in a few hours.
Broader context, Implications
Fusion is still a difficult frontier but the rise in private investment (reflected in TAE’s substantial investment) represents increasing faith in its ability to be a clean power source. That Google has renewed its backing, exemplifies a long term strategic vision: to create a clean, on‑demand and scalable energy source to complement global energy needs, while using as little electricity as possible in its data centers and to do it with minimal environmental impact .
Specifically, TAE’s progress offers tangible milestones toward this future: making reactors smaller and cheaper (fitting in a pickup truck); using AI to ramp up R&D; and planning to commercialize a reactor in a decade. But while net‑energy fusion appears to be a reality yet, developing it into a scalable energy resource will require surmounting many more challenges and then proven architectural prototypes to move into operational delivery.
The reason Why it matters
Google and Chevron support fusion with strategic energy investment in strong belief it’ll be a key clean energy solution.
Machine learning: AI has become a powerful tool for science and today even challenging areas like fusion see benefit.
Hit its early‑2030s grid timeline and TAE could revolutionize global energy systems.
