Helion Energy

Helion Energy is a Everett, Washington-based fusion energy company pioneering magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) as a path to commercially viable, always-on, carbon-free electricity. The company's proprietary approach uses Field-Reversed Configurations (FRCs) - compact, self-organized plasma structures - accelerated toward each other at high velocity by powerful electromagnets. When they collide and merge, fusion occurs, releasing energy that Helion recovers directly as electricity through its patented magnetic induction process, achieving over 95% round-trip energy recovery efficiency. This direct electricity conversion approach is a critical differentiator, bypassing the costly steam-turbine systems used in traditional nuclear or combustion power plants. Helion uses deuterium (extracted from water) and helium-3 (bred within the fusion reaction itself) as fuel, making its fuel supply effectively limitless and geopolitically unconstrained.

Founded in 2013 by Dr. David Kirtley, Chris Pihl, Dr. John Slough, and Dr. George Votroubek, Helion has progressed through seven prototype machines. Its sixth prototype, Trenta, achieved plasma temperatures exceeding 100 million °C. Its seventh, Polaris - built with a record-setting $500M raise - achieved plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius and became the first privately funded fusion machine to demonstrate bulk thermonuclear fusion with deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel. The company is now constructing Orion, described as the world's first fusion power plant, while also running the HERCULES program - a $4M initiative awarding grants to 20 research institutions advancing enabling technologies for commercial fusion scale-up.

Helion's significance to the US energy supply chain cannot be overstated. It has already signed Power Purchase Agreements with Microsoft (targeting grid power delivery by 2028) and steel manufacturer Nucor - the first commercial fusion customer agreements in history. With a valuation of $15.5 billion following its Series G round, Helion represents the most advanced and well-funded private fusion effort in the world. If successful, its technology promises to deliver firm, 24/7 clean baseload power without the land, weather, or waste constraints that limit solar, wind, and conventional nuclear, fundamentally reshaping how the United States - and the world - generates electricity.