Hajra Naz
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the social media company tied to President Donald Trump, announced Thursday that it plans to merge with TAE Technologies, a Southern California firm that has spent nearly three decades pursuing commercial fusion power.
The all-stock deal values the combined company at more than $6 billion. It marks a major move beyond social media. The timing is notable. Data centers and AI systems are driving record electricity demand. Advanced energy technologies are back in focus.
Industry Curiosity and Conflict Concerns
The announcement sparked both interest and unease in the fusion industry. Some insiders raised conflict-of-interest concerns. Those concerns involve the U.S. Department of Energy. The agency plays a central role in funding and regulating fusion research.
Fusion companies met with Energy Department officials just last week. They urged federal support for their projects. Earlier this year, the DOE released a new fusion roadmap. The plan outlined a path to commercial fusion. It did not include new funding commitments. Against that backdrop, TMTG’s political ties have drawn scrutiny.
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From Truth Social to Public Markets
Trump Media & Technology Group is best known as the parent company of Truth Social. Truth Social is a microblogging platform launched by Donald Trump. It was created after Trump was banned from YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. The bans followed the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump positioned Truth Social as a rival to what he called a “liberal media consortium.” He said the platform would push back against Big Tech. TMTG went public last year through a SPAC merger.
The approach allowed faster access to public markets. It also carried a higher risk.
For the quarter ending September 30, 2025, the company reported a $54.8 million loss. Revenue totaled just $972,900. The results highlight ongoing challenges in turning attention into profit.
Big Assets, Limited Revenue
Despite weak revenue from Truth Social and its streaming efforts, TMTG has built a sizable balance sheet. The company reported $3.1 billion in assets, largely tied to cryptocurrency holdings and related partnerships rather than its core media business.
TMTG CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, framed the merger as a strategic pivot. He said acquiring TAE would “cement America’s global energy dominance for generations.”
Ambitious Fusion Plans
Under the deal, the companies say they plan to begin construction next year on what they describe as the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant, capable of producing 50 megawatts of electricity. Longer term, they envision larger facilities generating 350 to 500 megawatts, enough to power major cities or large clusters of data centers.
Still, fusion remains an uncertain bet. To date, only one experimental system has demonstrated controlled fusion that produces more energy than it consumes. Competitors such as Commonwealth Fusion Systems, backed by Bill Gates, and Helion, backed by Sam Altman, are also racing to connect fusion power to the grid in the early 2030s.
How Fusion Works and Why It Matters
Fusion power promises massive amounts of clean, continuous energy. Reactors use hydrogen isotopes, often sourced from seawater, that are heated and compressed into plasma. When particles collide, they fuse into heavier atoms, releasing enormous heat that can be converted into electricity, without carbon emissions or long-lived nuclear waste.
If successful, fusion could reshape global energy markets. But decades of research have shown that moving from experimental success to reliable power generation is exceptionally difficult.
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TAE’s Long and Uneven Journey
TAE has been developing fusion technology since the late 1990s and has raised nearly $2 billion from investors. Backers include Google, Chevron Technology Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates. According to PitchBook, TAE was most recently valued at about $1.8 billion.
The company has struggled to perfect its designs. Its latest approach uses magnetic fields generated by rotating plasma to stabilize itself, with particle beams applied to maintain the plasma’s spin. Alongside fusion, TAE has launched a life sciences division, selling particle accelerators for cancer radiation treatments.
New Leadership Structure
Following the merger, TMTG CEO Devin Nunes and TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer will serve as co-CEOs of the combined company. Whether the partnership can turn ambitious promises into working fusion plants or profitable businesses remains an open question.
