President Donald Trump’s social media firm, Trump Media & Know-how Group (TMTG), said on Thursday that it’s merging with TAE Technologies, a Southern California-based firm that has been chasing the dream of fusion energy for practically 30 years.

The all-stock transaction, valued at greater than $6 billion, would broaden Trump Media’s presence into the nascent fusion energy area whereas knowledge facilities clamor for extra electrical energy amid the continuing AI increase.

Fusion trade insiders expressed curiosity over the deal and voiced issues about potential conflicts of curiosity with the U.S. Division of Vitality. Final week, trade representatives met with Energy Department officials, urging them to assist direct billions of {dollars} towards fusion tasks, and earlier this 12 months, the DOE introduced a new roadmap to information industrial efforts within the sector, although it didn’t commit any new funds alongside the announcement.

TMTG is the dad or mum firm of Truth Social, the microblogging platform that the president spun up after he was banned from platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Fb within the wake of the January 6 assaults on the U.S. Capitol. At launch, the president referred to as it “a rival to the liberal media consortium,” and mentioned he wished to “struggle again in opposition to the Huge Tech firms.”

TMTG went public final 12 months by way of a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a method used to go public by personal firms that wish to increase cash shortly however aren’t but mature sufficient to take the standard IPO route. Within the quarter ended September 30, 2025, TMTG reported that it recorded a lack of $54.8 million on income of $972,900.

Reality Social and the corporate’s streaming platform have didn’t generate a lot income, however TMTG has however managed to amass $3.1 billion in belongings, largely via its cryptocurrency investments and partnerships.

TMTG CEO Devin Nunes, previously a Republican congressman, said that the corporate’s acquisition of TAE would “cement America’s world power dominance for generations.” The businesses mentioned they plan to web site and start development on “the world’s first utility-scale fusion energy plant (50 MWe)” subsequent 12 months, and have plans for extra fusion crops which can be anticipated to generate between 350 megawatts to 500 megawatts of electrical energy.

However the path ahead for fusion energy stays unsure.

At the moment, only one experimental device has confirmed that managed fusion reactions can generate extra energy than they devour. A number of different firms, together with Invoice Gates-backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Sam Altman-backed Helion, are in the race to place fusion energy on the grid someday within the early 2030s.

If a number of fusion startups succeed, they might ship gigawatts of fresh, steady energy to the grid utilizing nothing greater than hydrogen isotopes filtered from seawater. Inside a fusion reactor, these isotopes are heated and compressed till they flip right into a plasma. When particles within the plasma collide, they merge to kind a brand new, heavier atom whereas releasing super quantities of warmth, which might be harvested to generate electrical energy.

TAE has been engaged on a variety of fusion units for the reason that late Nineteen Nineties. The corporate has raised practically $2 billion in whole, together with a recent $150 million round from present traders together with Google, Chevron Know-how Ventures, and New Enterprise. The corporate has been valued at about $1.8 billion, in keeping with PitchBook.

Through the years, TAE has struggled to make its varied designs work. Its newest effort makes use of magnetic fields generated by rotating plasma to stabilize the plasma itself. Particle beams bombard the skin of the plasma cloud, serving to it to spin.

Within the meantime, TAE has additionally created a brand new division centered on the life sciences. It’s promoting a model of its particle accelerator as a radiation remedy for most cancers.

After the merger, Nunes and TAE CEO Dr. Michl Binderbauer will function co-CEOs of the mixed firm.

Replace 12:05 p.m. ET: Added feedback from fusion trade insiders.