U.S. Fusion Industry Urges DOE to Redirect Billions Toward Next-Gen Energy Projects

Fusion energy industry leaders met with senior U.S. Department of Energy officials on Monday, pressing for the allocation of billions of dollars to accelerate projects that aim to produce electricity through the same process that powers the sun. The meeting follows the DOE’s recent restructuring in November, which created a dedicated Office of Fusion while eliminating several renewable energy divisions. The Trump administration has also rolled back major hydrogen and renewable subsidies previously approved under former President Joe Biden.

Industry representatives, led by Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, called for more than $1 billion annually in federal appropriations, alongside a one-time infrastructure investment. Holland emphasized the urgency of boosting U.S. support to keep pace with China’s rapidly advancing fusion ambitions. Despite decades of research, fusion remains a formidable challenge, although the 2022 milestone at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—achieving brief net energy gain—has renewed optimism across the sector.

The leaders also discussed Trump’s planned Genesis Mission, an integrated AI platform designed to harness federal scientific datasets to accelerate breakthrough technologies. Marvi Matos Rodriguez, senior vice president of technology at Zap Energy, noted that combining AI capabilities with federal resources could help bridge the remaining gap between fusion research and large-scale commercialization, positioning the U.S. at the forefront of next-generation energy innovation.

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