Trump Media & Technology Group — in which President Trump holds a 41.5% stake — is merging with fusion startup TAE Technologies in a deal valuing the combined company at $6bn. The transaction, expected to close this summer, marks the sector's biggest bet yet from a sitting US president's business interests, raising fresh conflict-of-interest questions as the administration champions "energy dominance."

The merger reflects an unprecedented funding surge into fusion energy. Companies raised over $13bn between 2020 and 2025, compared with less than $2bn in all prior years. Commonwealth Fusion Systems leads with roughly $3bn raised, including an $863mn round last August from investors including Google, Nvidia and Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy. Helion Energy, backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman, secured $425mn and pledges to supply Microsoft from a Washington state plant by 2028.

Dozens of startups are now racing to deliver the first working fusion plant. TAE aims for power generation in the early 2030s, while CFS plans to activate a demonstration plant near Boston next year and has filed to connect a Virginia commercial plant to the PJM grid serving 13 eastern states. The UK government committed £2.5bn in public fusion investment by 2030, and the EU announced €222mn in fusion funding this year.

China's aggressive state-led strategy — mobilizing at least $6.5bn since late 2022 — has sparked alarm in Washington, with a recent congressional panel urging the US to accelerate its push for fusion leadership.