Truth Social Parent to Merge With Nuclear Fusion Firm in $6 Billion Deal

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨nymnympseudonym@piefed.social⁩ to ⁨nyt_gift_articles@sopuli.xyz⁩

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/business/trump-media-tae-technologies-fusion-power-deal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9k8.ChnL.qUbtag7y6Cc1&smid=url-share

President Trump’s social media company, which recently expanded into streaming and cryptocurrency, is now entering its fourth act: fusion power, a promising but still unproven source of alternative energy.

Trump Media & Technology Group and TAE Technologies, a fusion power company, said Thursday they had agreed to an all-stock merger that the companies valued at more than $6 billion.

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

n3m37h@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Over valued by 7 bil

source
nymnympseudonym@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
There are at least half a dozen promising but largely unrelated fusion technologies at various stages of development/commercialization. So I did a little research on TAE technologies.

They use “Field Reversed Confinement” (FRC), which I’m not very familiar with. The article mentioned one other company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, whose tech I am familiar with: spherical tokamak

Anyway, I asked Perplexity to compare and contrast the two companies from a tech and commercialization perspective.

[ Aside: the Brown shooting is now maybe linked to the murder of the head of MIT’s plasma fusion department. Based on the below, the MIT approach is a direct competitor to the TAE approach. If you want a conspiracy theory, this one is screaming for attention. ]

===========

Commercial and risk trade‑offs

TAE FRC approach

Potential advantages:

Aneutronic p–B¹¹ pathway promises greatly reduced neutron‑induced damage, lower activation, and simpler balance‑of‑plant (no large tritium systems).

Linear geometry and reliance on self‑generated fields may lead to simpler, cheaper reactors if stability and confinement at extreme temperatures can be maintained.

Key risks:

FRCs historically suffer from stability and confinement issues; operating an FRC at p–B¹¹ conditions with good energy gain remains unproven.

Neutral‑beam‑dominant sustainment requires high beam power and efficiency, presenting demanding engineering and wall‐loading challenges.

CFS HTS tokamak approach

Potential advantages:

Builds on the most experimentally mature magnetic‑confinement concept (tokamak) with extensive data and validated models.

HTS magnets allow higher fields and smaller plants, improving projected economics and enabling SPARC to reach high QQ in a relatively compact device.

Key risks:

D–T operation entails significant neutron flux, requiring robust blankets, shielding, tritium breeding, and complex maintenance systems.

HTS magnet systems must withstand neutron and thermal loads over long lifetimes, which remains to be demonstrated at power‑plant scale.
source