Fusion Energy Breakthroughs

A common critique about AI models concerns their energy use and impact on our climate. A recent development in a promising energy source, fusion energy, could answer those concerns.

What Is Fusion Energy and Why Should You Care?

Imagine a power source that creates energy the same way the sun does—by fusing light atoms together. Unlike current power plants that burn fossil fuels or split heavy atoms (nuclear fission), nuclear fusion promises to produce virtually unlimited, clean power. It uses small amounts of materials like hydrogen isotopes (such as deuterium from water) and lithium (to breed tritium) to release significantly more energy per kilogram of fuel than current nuclear fission. The process is inherently safe and produces no carbon emissions. While fusion reactions create no long-lived, high-level radioactive waste, the reactor components will become low-level radioactive and require management. Commercial fusion energy could solve one of AI's biggest current challenges: the massive and rapidly growing electricity demands of data centers and AI systems.

Major Investors Are Betting Big on Fusion

Total investment numbers:

• Fusion companies raised a total of $2.64 bn of investment in the 12 months to July 2025

• Global private investment has reached over $8 billion across 53 companies

Big tech companies leading the charge:

• Google: Participated in an $863 million fundraising round for Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and struck a deal to buy 200 megawatts of clean fusion power from CFS once it gets its ARC plant up and running

• Microsoft: Was the first company to agree to buy fusion power from Helion, a major fusion startup

• Nvidia: Investing in fusion startups alongside other tech giants

References

• Fusion Energy Investments Surged 178% - Are You Missing the Boom?

• First Light Unveils Novel Approach to Fusion