Investors have been pouring money into nuclear fusion, the futuristic technology that seems to be making slow progress toward commercial viability, while the globe scrambles to build more power plants to satisfy AI’s insatiable appetite for electricity.
The most recent example is Tokamak Energy, a startup company based in the United Kingdom that is trying to improve its squeezed-doughnut method of fusion power. The business revealed on Tuesday that it had raised $125 million to grow its TE Magnetics subsidiary and advance the reactor design.
When Tokamak Energy was separated from the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority in 2009, it began working on fusion. The business is working on a process called magnetic confinement fusion, which confines extremely hot plasma inside a reactor using magnets. In contrast to other methods, Tokamak Energy’s spherical tokamak takes the doughnut-shaped plasma and squeezes it at its circumference. In 2022, the ST40 prototype produced a plasma that established a record at 100 million degrees Celsius.
According to the Telegraph, Tokamak Energy plans to start operating a pilot power plant by 2034, which would place it roughly on level with a number of other fusion businesses but years behind leaders like Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
Tokamak Energy established TE Magnetics to sell its knowledge of high-temperature superconducting magnets, a business strategy increasingly used by fusion companies, in order to assist fill the gap until commercial fusion revenue starts to come in.
East X Ventures and Lingotto Investment Management, which oversees the Agnelli family fortune, spearheaded this week’s fundraising effort, which brought in a total of $275 million from private investors. British Patient Capital, BW Group, Furukawa Electric Company, and Sabanci Climate Ventures also contributed.