Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation


Fuse Energy Technologies Corporation is a U.S.-based fusion defense company that provides radiation testing services for national security customers as a path to commercial fusion power. It builds advanced radiation machines to test the resilience of governments and commercial hardware through short bursts of radiation. Fuse is also developing a fusion generator able to deliver clean energy. It was founded by J.C. Btaiche in 2019 and is headquartered in San Leandro, California.

History

In 2019, at 19 years old, J.C. Btaiche founded Fuse to evaluate various fusion power methods. Fuse ultimately chose to develop an advanced pulsed power machine able to power a MagLIF Z-pinch magneto-inertial fusion device.
In February 2024, Fuse was awarded a contract from the United States Air Force to develop new nuclear effects testing options for the military. Fuse conducted a live-fire, six-stage test of the world's first high-energy, high-power impedance-matched Marx generator, named TITAN, and published experimental results from the machine in Nature Scientific Reports in July 2024. TITAN will serve as Fuse's pulsed power driver for future fusion generators. In the same year, former National Nuclear Security Administrator and Energy Department Under Secretary Lisa Gordon-Hagerty joined the company's board of directors. In 2024, Fuse also announced it was developing designs for two more fusion platforms: a test platform named Z-Star and a pilot fusion plant named Apeiron I.
At its San Leandro headquarters, Fuse operates a radiation facility which opening was covered by Wired magazine.
Fuse has contracts with the U.S. Air Force, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and cooperative research and development agreements with Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Former Chief Engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, James Owen serves as the President of the company's federal subsidiary, Fuse Federal, LLC. Former Afghanistan base chief for the CIA Laura Thomas serves as the company's chief strategy officer. Former Atomic Energy Organization of Iran nuclear scientist Vahid Damideh serves as the company's chief engineer.
Investors in Fuse include Bracket Capital, Tamarack Global, and Buckley Ventures.According to Bloomberg News, the company was valued at over $200 million in September 2024.