Google & TAE: Could Viable Nuclear Fusion Energy be Near?
Harnessing nuclear fusion sounds like the stuff of fiction, and for a long time it has been.
This process of combining light atomic nuclei to form a heavier nucleus releases vast amounts of energy and powers the sun and all other stars.
TAE Technologies is working to deliver the world’s first commercial fusion power with the help of Google.
TAE has raised nearly US$1.3bn in equity capital since its inception and received support and collaboration from the tech giant for 10 years.
Ross Koningstein, Engineering Director Emeritus at Google Research, said: “We’ve been an investor in TAE since 2015, and recently participated in TAE’s latest funding round, positioning them as a leading contender in the race to achieve fusion.
“We look forward to TAE’s continued progress with their distinctive pathway to fusion – one of our bets for a cleaner energy future.”
Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE Technologies, said: “We’re delighted to continue our relationship with Google, who have not only provided funding to TAE but collaborated closely in research and development over many years.
“With this latest fundraise, we look forward to accelerating our efforts to deliver commercial fusion power.”
About nuclear fusion
Fusion has the potential to generate nearly four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission, the process currently used in nuclear power plants, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This is nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal.
Fusion occurs when nuclei overcome their mutual electrostatic repulsion, through high pressures or temperatures, to create a heavier nucleus.
The resulting nucleus has slightly less mass than the originals, and this lost mass is converted to energy.
It requires matter to be in a plasma state where electrons are stripped from nuclei.
There are a variety of ways scientists aim to replicate the conditions needed for fusion on Earth, including magnetic confinement and inertial confinement, but sustaining plasma stability and managing extreme heat are big challenges to overcome in the aim to achieve a net energy gain from the reaction.
There is abundant fuel for fusion on Earth and its primary waste is helium, offering benefits over the currently used fission reactions.
The theory of fusion was first understood in the 1930s and scientists and engineers have been working to harness it ever since.
If fusion is achieved with a net energy gain, it could completely change global energy systems as they are currently known.
Meet TAE Technologies
Formerly Tri Alpha Energy, TAR Technologies is based in California, US and is developing aneutronic fusion power.
Most energy from aneutronic fusion reactions is carried by charged particles, minimising neutron radiation and reducing shielding requirements.
Since its inception, TAE has raised nearly US$1.3bn in equity capital and made a lot of progress.
In April 2025, it announced its “Norm” breakthrough where it achieved stable plasma at more than 70 million °C in a simplified fusion device.
Its technology is based on the Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC), a magnetic confinement technique that can reduce the amount of magnets needed to confine plasma and make the device more power efficient to operate.
The “Norm” breakthrough saw the company use only neural beam injection to produce a hot, stable FRC plasma, significantly reducing the size, complexity and cost of the machine.
Michl says: “Fusion has the potential to transform the energy landscape, providing near-limitless clean power at a time when the world’s energy needs are growing exponentially due to the growth of AI and data centres.
“TAE’s technology uses the soundest physics to deliver superior performance in a compact machine, with attractive economics and best-in-class maintainability.
“We are leading the charge to develop revolutionary fusion technology for full-scale commercial deployment.”
Why is Google interested in nuclear fusion?
Like many other tech businesses, Google is facing a big energy and sustainability problem.
In 2023, Google’s greenhouse gas emissions were 48% higher than in 2019 – a 13% year-on-year increase.
”In spite of the progress we are making, we face significant challenges that we’re actively working through,” Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Benedict Gomes, SVP, Learning & Sustainability wrote in the introduction to its 2024 Sustainability Report.
“In 2023, our total GHG emissions increased 13% year-over-year, primarily driven by increased data centre energy consumption and supply chain emissions.”
It is yet to be seen if Google’s emissions rose again in 2024, but with the significant continued expansion of AI and demand on its data centres it would not be a shock.
Google is targeting net zero emissions across all of its operations and value chain by 2030 which is supported by a goal to use 24/7 carbon-free energy.
Many big technology companies are looking at small modular reactors (SMRs), a smaller type of nuclear fission reactor, to power their data centres.
This technology, however, can produce long-lived and highly radioactive waste and requires nuclear fuel to be mined.
If fusion energy takes off, it could be a substantial part of the solution to some of these problems.
Michael Terrell, Head of Advanced Energy at Google, said on LinkedIn: “We’ll need to take many shots on goal in this next frontier of energy innovation: that means accelerating advanced energy solutions to unlock new clean firm capacity within the next decade, as well as longer-term bets like nuclear fusion.”
Google’s work with TAE Technologies
Google Research first collaborated with TAE in 2015, applying AI to drive improvements in plasma temperature and lifetime and help to better understand its behaviour.
Google engineers worked onsite at TAE facilities, co-developing sophisticated plasma reconstruction algorithms and optimisation tools.
These include the "Optometrist Algorithm," which accelerated TAE’s scientific progress and improved reactor performance.
Alongside collaborating in research, Google has been a major investor in TAE since 2015 through multiple funding rounds, including the latest in 2025.
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