The Fusion Industry Association released its 2026 Global Fusion Industry Report, showing that fusion companies have raised a $14.24 billion. The report highlights record investment, growing commercial partnerships, and increasing confidence that fusion machines will deliver electricity in the 2030s.
Canada-based General Fusion has become the first publicly listed fusion company after completing a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The listing provides the company with broader access to capital as it advances its technology toward deployment.
Germany-based Proxima Fusion has raised €411 million to advance plans for its first commercial fusion power plant. The funding will support the company’s technology development and manufacturing as it targets demonstration in the early 2030s.
South Korean fusion startup Eternafusion has raised seed funding to advance its compact fusion machine technology. The company aims to demonstrate its core technology and achieve deployment in the 2030s.
On April 3, President Trump released the Presidential Budget Request (PBR) for Fiscal Year 2027. Within this, the request for the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program of $755.25 million is $50 million less than the $805.65 million appropriated for Fiscal Year 2026.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced a $135 million investment in fusion, marking the largest in its history, and more than it has invested in fusion over the past 12 years combined ($134M). The funding, to be deployed over multiple programs in the next 18 months, aims to accelerate commercially viable fusion power.
At a roundtable with the Department of Energy, the private fusion industry urged officials to invest billions in order to compete with China.
Global electricity demand is surging, driven by artificial intelligence and data centers, advanced manufacturing, quantum computing, and cryptocurrency. Fusion offers the promise of virtually unlimited, secure, and affordable power that will transform the global economy for generations. It is the key to unlocking the energy leadership required to compete and win as a country. And with the private sector’s push to deliver electrons on the grid in the early 2030s, commercial fusion is no longer a question of “when.” It is a question of who does it first and where.
The extension brings Helical Fusion’s series A funding, including loans, up to US$21 million, and total cumulative fundraising to US$38 million.
Helical Fusion inks new power purchase agreement (PPA) with Aoki Super Co., Ltd., a major regional supermarket chain in central Japan.
Magnetic confinement: Plasma is heated to 100 million °C or more, then squeezed and held in place by strong magnetic fields, allowing many fusion reactions to occur. (Example: tokamaks, stellarators)
Inertial confinement: Tiny fuel pellets are struck by powerful lasers. The outer layer explodes outward, compressing the core to fusion conditions for a few nanoseconds, producing a brief but intense pulse of energy from each pellet. (Example: National Ignition Facility)
Hybrid systems: Combine compression (e.g., from lasers, plasma pistons, or mechanical impact) with moderate magnetic fields to reduce energy losses and improve confinement.
Electrostatic fusion: Uses high electric potentials to accelerate ions toward a central reaction zone, causing them to collide at high energies and fuse. The ions are guided and confined by electric fields rather than magnets, creating a compact environment for fusion reactions.