Key facts
- Global private investment in nuclear fusion hit a record $4.48 billion in 2025.
- Eni plans to deploy a commercial fusion power plant in Europe by the early 2040s.
- Eni will purchase electricity from Commonwealth Fusion Systems' first commercial U.S. plant.
- Eni is also developing a business to supply fuel systems for fusion reactors.
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised $4 billion and aims for commercial operation in the early 2030s.
- Other major energy companies including Equinor, Chevron, Shell, and Cenovus have also invested in fusion technology.
Nuclear fusion, long confined to laboratories, is attracting significant investment and industrial planning, with global private funding reaching a record $4.48 billion in 2025. Major energy companies are moving beyond simple startup backing to deploy commercial fusion power plants and develop related businesses.
Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A. plans to deploy a commercial fusion power plant in Europe by the early 2040s, building on its investment in Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS). Eni has also agreed to purchase electricity from CFS's first commercial U.S. plant and is establishing a business around the fuel systems required for fusion reactors, leveraging its experience with hydrocarbons and hydrogen processing. Eni has formed a joint venture with the UK Atomic Energy Authority to develop and sell these fuel services globally.
CFS has raised $1 billion in July, bringing its total funding to $4 billion, with a target of commercial operation in the early 2030s. Its planned 400-MW ARC facility in Virginia has applied for interconnection with PJM, and Google has agreed to purchase 200 MW of its output. Eni has committed over $1 billion to buying electricity from this plant.
Commercial fusion reactors will require significant amounts of tritium, a radioactive isotope with a short half-life that exists in tiny natural quantities. This necessitates reactors producing their own tritium and continuously recovering and recycling unused fuel through closed-loop systems. Eni is developing a large-scale tritium fuel-cycle facility at the UKAEA Culham Campus, scheduled for completion in 2028, to test these processes.
Other energy companies, including Equinor, Chevron, Shell, and Cenovus, have also invested in fusion technology. Equinor Ventures has been an investor in CFS since 2020. Chevron has backed TAE Technologies and Zap Energy, with TAE planning to build an initial 50-MW fusion power plant. Shell Ventures invested in Zap Energy's Series D round, which is pursuing a different fusion approach. Cenovus was an early investor in General Fusion, which is merging with a SPAC and targeting a Nasdaq listing with a goal of its first commercial plant by the mid-2030s.