Q: "Why Is Big Tech Investing Billions In Fusion?" A: Because They Like Burning Money On Shiny Bullshit Like AI [View all]

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The reactor under construction here at Commonwealth Fusion Systems is one of at least 43 private-industry ventures or partnerships in the United States and allied countries that are racing to commercialize fusion power. It’s a prize that has eluded scientists for so long, many still believe it can’t be done, at least not anytime soon.

But tech companies and investors are pouring billions into these companies, encouraged by breakthroughs they contend have placed a sustained fusion reaction tantalizingly within reach. China also factors into their urgency, with a government-sponsored effort there that is putting the West at risk of losing the global competition.

Scientists dreaming of fusion are no longer toiling in the shadows. They are being courted by governors, billionaires and tech behemoths eager to get in on the ground floor of what they see as a transformative, carbon-free fusion economy. “A lot of people thought we were chasing ghosts,” said Michl Binderbauer, at TAE Technologies, which has partnered with Google to build a fusion reactor in Southern California and is one of Commonwealth’s top rivals. Now more than $8 billion in mostly private money has been invested in fusion start-ups, most of it in the past four years.

Ed. - Setting all else aside, I should note that $8 billion isn't very much money in the energy industry. Costs for the Vogtle plant (which actually does generate electricity) alone stand at about $35 billion and it's only half-completed. CORRECTED by Progee - 3 and 4 were the final units.

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The current and former Energy Department secretaries are boosting its promise. “Fusion has hit that tipping point where things are going to happen fast,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a student of fusion decades ago at MIT who ultimately became an oil and gas CEO, said at a conference in Washington this month. While Trump officials have scaled back support for wind and solar energy, Wright has touted fusion because if harnessed, it would produce power without regard to weather or time of day.

Ed. - Emphasis added. Oh, yeah, and whatever, Sec. Fracking PR Dude.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2025/06/23/fusion-energy-climate-science/

Freebie: https://wapo.st/4nyyNDN