Milestone moment! $4.5 billion in funding pours into the fusion race track, industry leader General Fusion (GFUZ.US) surges 21% on its first day of listing.

Over the past year, global investment in the field of nuclear fusion has surged by 69% to a record $4.5 billion, reflecting the market's increasing confidence in the commercialization of fusion power plants and the achievement of grid-connected power. It is worth noting that General Fusion Group (GFUZ.US) made its debut on the stock market by merging with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), with its stock price soaring 21% on the first trading day, highlighting investors' strong interest in the world's first publicly traded nuclear fusion company. According to a report released on Monday, fusion developers have raised a total of $14.2 billion in financing since the Fusion Industry Association began tracking related data in 2021. In the year following the association's last annual report, four companies absorbed more than half of the industry's investments, namely: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Inertia Enterprises, Helion Energy, and Proxima Fusion. Nuclear fusion technology holds the promise of providing abundant carbon-free energy, but achieving commercial fusion power plants still faces many scientific and engineering challenges. Fusion requires simulating the environment inside stars, where smaller atomic nuclei combine under high temperature and pressure to form larger nuclei and release enormous energy. A key technological breakthrough in 2022 greatly increased industry attention to fusion technology - when researchers successfully achieved fusion reactions that produced more energy output than the input energy required to start the reaction. However, this achievement has only been made in laboratory settings and has not yet been replicated outside of the laboratory. Meanwhile, the demand for Clean Energy Fuels Corp., a substantial AI data center requiring round-the-clock stable energy supply, has further increased the popularity of fusion technology. According to the report, approximately 70% of surveyed companies expect the first commercial fusion power plant to be operational before 2040. The first nuclear fusion stock debuts on Nasdaq, with the first day stock price closing up by 21%. Another milestone event in the global nuclear fusion sector. Canadian fusion technology company General Fusion Group officially landed on Nasdaq after completing a merger with SPAC company Spring Valley Acquisition Corp III on Monday, with the stock price closing up 20.61% on the first day. General Fusion is committed to building fusion power plants, a grand and challenging goal as fusion power generation has only been achieved in the laboratory so far. Market expectations for the timeline of the U.S. completing commercial fusion power plants vary widely, ranging from a few years to at least ten years. Nonetheless, the development prospects of nuclear fusion continue to attract a large number of investors. Greg Twinney, CEO of General Fusion, stated that going public will allow the company to reach a broader group of investors. Twinney stated on Monday, "The amount of funding in the public capital market is much larger than that in the private market, and the competition is smaller, after all, we are the first publicly traded company in the industry." He also mentioned that the company's goal is to build and start commercial fusion reactors by 2035. Records show that General Fusion, founded in 2002, is one of the longest-standing fusion companies in the industry. Bezos invested in the company as early as 2011. However, the company has experienced ups and downs in its development, with layoffs of 25% last year and seeking a new round of financing from investors. Twinney expressed that going public will completely turn around the company's situation. The IPO raised $150 million, which is sufficient to support the company's operations until 2028; the company expects to achieve several key scientific breakthroughs by then, significantly reducing the difficulty of subsequent financing. The company has completed its first fusion experiment facility in Vancouver. Twinney stated that, compared to other fusion companies, General Fusion's core advantage lies in using mature universal hardware such as steam-driven pistons, rather than superconducting magnets and lasers. He said, "This solution is more cost-effective and does not require various rare and special materials." Barron's magazine pointed out that investing in General Fusion is a high-risk speculation, betting on an energy technology that has not yet been commercially realized globally. Commercialization may still take several years or even decades. Technology companies are hoping to accelerate the development of fusion reactors to address the huge power needs of artificial intelligence data centers. In 2023, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) signed the world's first commercial fusion power order with Helion Energy. This startup, invested by OpenAI's founder Sam Altman, plans to start fusion power in 2028. Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) has made multiple investments in the field of nuclear fusion, including investing in German fusion startup Proxima Fusion and American fusion company TAE Technologies. It is reported that Trump Media & Technology Group and TAE Technologies reached a $6 billion merger agreement last year, which may be completed later this year.