This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems is looking to take its next big leap overseas. The Massachusetts startup, which just raised $863 million from investors including Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), is in talks with Japanese officials about bringing its fusion technology to the country, CEO Bob Mumgaard told Bloomberg during a visit to Tokyo.
The company doesn’t yet have a working reactor, but interest is building. A group of 12 Japanese firms led by trading houses Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp has already signaled support. Mumgaard said that getting a reactor running in Japan by the late 2030s or early 2040s would be a great scenario, and he plans further meetings to share updates on the global fusion race.
Fusion the process of fusing atoms together to release massive energy is seen as a clean power breakthrough, though sustaining it at scale has been notoriously difficult. Japan revised its national strategy in June to back fusion projects and wants a demonstration plant up by 2030.
Commonwealth, spun out of MIT in 2018, is also building a 400-megawatt fusion plant in Virginia, with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) already lined up to buy half the power.
