Commonwealth Fusion Systems

This week, many of the brightest minds in the field of fusion physics gather at an annual conference to discuss the remarkable physical process that lets us develop a new source of clean, abundant energy. At the event, Commonwealth Fusion Systems experts will bring a new subject of conversation: details about how we plan to operate SPARC, our fusion demonstration machine. SPARC is about 80% complete. Its first job is to generate net fusion energy — called Q>1 in scientific circles. That means producing more power from the fusion process than it takes to heat up the fusion fuel, called a plasma, so that fusion occurs. It’s difficult, with only one machine in the world reaching this performance level. At CFS, we expect to be the second to reach Q>1, and we’ve begun detailed planning on the best way. “Because SPARC is designed to run well beyond Q>1, we have lots of room to maneuver as we operate the machine,” said Clayton Myers, Interim Director of Diagnostics at CFS, who’s slated to discuss our Q>1 approach at the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics meeting (APS-DPP). “Part of the reason we’re confident SPARC will meet this early performance goal is because we have different paths to success.” You can read more about our plans, including two options for magnetic field strength, in our blog post about APS-DPP. The link is in the comments below. Among other talks and poster sessions at the conference, we’ll also share our newest work designing the ARC power plant, the successor to SPARC. And we'll have plenty of folks at our booth, so if you’re attending, stop by and say hello. #FusionEnergy #SPARC

"You can provide enough fuel to power the entire fusion power plant for its entire lifetime … just sitting there from day one, which really changes how you think of energy security.” – That's CFS Chief Science Officer and Co-founder @BrandonSorbom on What’s Next with Philip Meissner, discussing the history of fusion energy, our progress building our SPARC fusion machine, and fusion energy’s potential to dramatically transform energy politics. Fusion energy offers a clean, steady, and abundant energy source can be built just about anywhere, including places that rely on pipelines and tanker ships today. When we use SPARC to demonstrate Q>1 — net fusion energy, which means the fusion plasma generates more power than is used to heat it — then fusion energy will be a big step closer to fulfilling that promise. Says Brandon: “There are a lot of places, especially island nations, that are dependent on importing fuel from somewhere else, and I think those countries would be very happy to not have to do that.” #FusionEnergy

CFS and the U.S. @CommerceGov have signed a letter of intent for a proposed $85 million award that would advance semiconductor research and development for fusion energy. The proposed award, under the CHIPS and Science Act, stands to boost both fusion commercialization and the processor manufacturing industry in the United States. The proposed award would fund a variety of semiconductor-related innovation that applies to fusion energy, including improvements to power electronics, radio frequency power generators, controller chips, robotic maintenance equipment, and artificial intelligence for fusion. “This award marks an important opportunity to drive development of semiconductors and power electronics unique to the fusion industry,” said @BobMumgaard, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems. “These innovations will be a vital part of our global effort to deploy commercial fusion.” We expect the proposed award from the CHIPS Research and Development Office (CRDO) to bear fruit by attracting new suppliers and partners to the fusion sector. Building a more robust industrial base ultimately will help bring this clean, safe, nearly limitless form of energy to the power grid as fast as possible. #FusionEnergy

“We have a saying at CFS that in the future, the two markets that matter are energy and gray matter. It’s really human creativity and energy, and then the possibilities are endless.” That’s @BrandonSorbom, CFS Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder, speaking about the long-term potential of fusion energy at @TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 this week. Quality of life measurements rise with energy, he added: “If you look at literacy or infant mortality or life expectancy, they all correlate positively with energy use. So regardless of what we're applying the energy towards, there's always going to be a need for more energy.” #FusionEnergy #TechCrunchDisrupt

Q>1 is one of the most important milestones on the path to fusion power. But what does it actually mean? Alex Creely, Chief Engineer of ARC, breaks it down in simple terms. Fusion has the potential to unlock a huge amount of clean energy. But first, a fusion machine has to prove it can make more energy than it uses. That’s what Q>1 means. We put power into the machine to keep the fusion fuel incredibly hot, and Q>1 happens when the fusion reactions give off more power than we put in. It’s not the only thing a fusion power plant needs — but it’s a crucial first step. #FusionEnergy #Energy #Physics #Science

Through the U.S. Department of @ENERGY's Genesis Mission, fusion energy machines are about to get a lot smarter. CFS is the only private company leading a Genesis Mission Phase II project, directing a group of American companies, universities, and labs that’ll extend our work applying artificial intelligence and digital twin technology to our SPARC fusion demonstration machine. With decades of publicly funded fusion science data and the might of DOE supercomputers, we’ll be able to put faster AI technology to use. This phase of the Genesis Mission is designed to help expand the impact of projects with a demonstrated potential to benefit from AI and to improve the nation’s scientific capability. A digital twin is a sophisticated clone of real-world hardware, a 3D representation with two-way communication links that show what’s happening in the tokamak while also helping us control it. Building AI models into this digital twin adds ultrafast AI simulations, giving us new abilities to understand SPARC fusion pulses in just moments. That rapid learning will let us chart the best path to progress so we can deliver fusion energy to the grid as fast as possible. In effect, AI can serve as a co-pilot to run the machine, and the digital twin gives us a better flight simulator cockpit. DOE supercomputers will help us train AI models validated with data from decades of fusion research, helping to turn hours of plodding computer simulations into immediate insights. “This project will convert decades of R&D performed across the U.S. fusion community into tools that can be applied to accelerate SPARC operations,” said @BrandonSorbom, Chief Science Officer and Co-founder of CFS. “Together, our team of public and private leaders in AI and fusion will be able to unify and apply decades of U.S. research and tackle some of the fusion industry’s biggest challenges — creating new opportunities to move fusion to the grid faster.” The group we’re leading on this project also includes laboratories (@Livermore_Lab, @ORNL, @PPPLab, @SLAClab), universities (@CarnegieMellon, @MIT), and private companies (@GoogleDeepMind, @nvidia, @Synopsys, and @GeneralAtomics). #FusionEnergy #Energy

"SPARC was designed with the intent not to be connected to the grid but to have 13 of the 17 systems you need in a power plant to show the world that we have a near-scale fusion machine that can work as a power plant. The rest of the things we can work in parallel — we wanted to go on the fastest path possible." That's Jennifer Ganten, Chief Global Affairs Officer, chatting with Daniel Hewitt on the Everything Energy podcast from the @IEA, alongside other fusion observers. Jennifer and Dan discussed how the SPARC facility has become a beehive of daily activity with hundreds of people onsite. SPARC, our fusion demonstration machine, is now about 80% complete, and we anticipate turning it on next year. Tune into the podcast to learn more about our progress on SPARC and our parallel approach to working on the ARC power plant.