Pacific Fusion

What Pacific Fusion does

Pacific Fusion is a Fremont, California-based fusion energy company founded in 2023 by Eric Lander, Will Regan, Keith LeChien, Carrie von Muench, and Leland Ellison. The company is developing pulsed magnetic inertial fusion systems built around a proprietary impedance-matched Marx generator (IMG) architecture, co-invented by CTO Keith LeChien. The system is composed of container-sized pulser modules assembled from mass-manufacturable "bricks" (two capacitors and a switch), centimeter-scale aluminum and plastic fusion targets that create their own internal magnetic field, and a compact meter-scale fusion chamber. The flagship Demonstration System will integrate 156 identical modules firing in tightly synchronized pulses to drive approximately 60 MA of current across a fusion target. A scaled one-third prototype module has been validated at approximately 440 GW peak output power and approximately 1.1 MV peak voltage in 80 nanoseconds, described as the highest-power single-step pulser module ever demonstrated.

The company's commercialization plan rests on three forward-looking revenue streams. The primary stream is the sale of electricity from commercial fusion power plants targeting electric utilities, grid operators, and hyperscale data center operators seeking clean, on-demand baseload power, with the first commercial system targeted for the mid-2030s. A secondary stream is the Pacific Fusion Users Program (PFUP), which will provide external researchers, commercial partners, and government entities with access to the Demonstration System for fusion energy science, materials testing, medical isotope production, and national security applications starting in 2028. A third, optional stream is licensing of the modular pulser platform for non-fusion applications including x-ray, neutron, and electromagnetic pulse testing.

Pacific Fusion has assembled a team of over 200 scientists and engineers drawn from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, SpaceX, and Tesla. The company has established Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with Sandia and Lawrence Livermore, a co-development partnership with General Atomics, and a simulation collaboration with the University of Rochester Flash Center. It has raised over $1 billion in cumulative funding, including a Series A of more than $900 million led by General Catalyst with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lightspeed, Lowercarbon Capital, Eric Schmidt, John Doerr, Patrick Collison, Ken Griffin, and others, and a separate $1 billion commitment from the New Mexico State Investment Council. Operations are currently split across a Fremont headquarters and test center, a 135,000 square-foot San Leandro Build Center, a Livermore Collaboratory, a planned $1 billion Albuquerque Research and Manufacturing Campus, and a planned Los Lunas Build Center. The company is pre-revenue, targeting net facility gain by 2030 as the gating milestone for commercial fusion power.

Name

Pacific Fusion

Legal name

Pacific Fusion

Website

https://pacificfusion.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Pacific Fusion is a Fremont, California-based fusion energy company developing pulsed magnetic inertial fusion systems using proprietary impedance-matched Marx generator technology, targeting net facility gain by 2030 and commercial clean baseload power for utilities and hyperscale data center operators by the mid-2030s.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fusion Energy Generation

NAICS

Mechanical Power Transmission Equipment Manufacturing (333613), Relay and Industrial Control Manufacturing (335314)

SIC

Special Industry Machinery, Nec (3559)

akta.pro primary industry

Gen IV / Advanced Reactor Systems (SFR, LFR, GFR, MSR, HTGR, Microreactors) (EUAKADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Instrumentation & Control (I&C) Integration & Commissioning Support (EUAKAAAH), Modeling, Simulation, Digital Twins & Mission Rehearsal Systems (IMABAOAL), Reactor Vessel, Internals & Primary Circuit Components (RPV, piping, pumps, valves) (EUAKADAE)

Keywords

• Pulsed magnetic fusion
• Inertial confinement fusion
• Fusion power systems
• Pulsed power technology
• Clean energy generation

Headquarters

HQ city

Fremont

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Operations

Revenue model

1. Commercial Fusion Power Generation: Pacific Fusion plans to generate revenue through the sale of electricity produced by commercial fusion power plants, targeting delivery of the first commercial fusion system in the United States by the mid-2030s. The company is building toward power gain (generating more electrical power than the system uses) and affordable power through modular, mass-manufactured systems.
2. Users Program / Research Access: The Pacific Fusion Users Program (PFUP) provides external access to the Demonstration System for researchers in private industry, academia, and government, with experimental time allocated for fusion energy science experiments, commercial applications (materials testing, medical isotope production), and national security applications.
3. Technology Platform Licensing: The modular pulser technology platform has applications beyond fusion power, including x-ray, neutron, combined environment, microwave and electromagnetic pulses for various testing applications. The company mentions the technology supports national security missions as they scale toward fusion power.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Pacific Fusion is building a modular pulsed magnetic inertial fusion system designed to deliver net facility gain and commercial fusion power. The system integrates mass-manufactured pulser modules built from identical "bricks" (two capacitors and a switch), centimeter-scale aluminum/plastic fusion targets, and a meter-scale fusion chamber, all driven by a proprietary impedance-matched Marx generator. The company's flagship Demonstration System—assembled from 156 identical modules—is engineered to produce more fusion energy out than stored energy input (net facility gain) by 2030, with first commercial fusion power targeted for the mid-2030s.

Product overview

Pacific Fusion offers a modular, factory-built pulsed magnetic inertial fusion system for achieving net facility gain and commercial fusion power. The core system is composed of three integrated components: (1) Pulser Modules — compact, container-sized pulsed power units built from mass-manufacturable 'bricks' (two capacitors and a switch) that drive the fusion reaction; (2) Fusion Targets — small, inexpensive, centimeter-scale fuel containers (aluminum/plastic) that replace complex external hardware; and (3) a Fusion Chamber — a compact meter-scale cylindrical chamber with built-in water shielding. The company is also developing the Impedance-Matched Marx Generator (IMG) as the core enabling technology, and a validated FLASH-based simulation suite for target and system design. The flagship Demonstration System, targeting net facility gain by 2030, will be built from 156 identical pulser modules. Pacific Fusion also offers the Pacific Fusion Users Program (PFUP) for external researchers to access the DS when operational (starting 2028).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pulser Modules Compact, shipping-container-sized pulsed power modules that store electrical energy and release it efficiently in fast ~100-nanosecond pulses. A full commercial system requires 156 identical modules firing in tightly synchronized pulses to drive a ~60 MA current across a fusion target; each module produces over 1 TW peak power.
• Fusion Targets Small centimeter-scale fuel containers (aluminum and plastic, ~pencil-eraser-sized cylinders) holding deuterium-tritium fusion fuel. Designed for mass manufacturing, low cost per shot, and self-generated internal magnetic field that eliminates the need for external hardware such as magnetic coils.
• Fusion Chamber Compact meter-scale cylindrical chamber where fusion fuel targets are magnetically compressed and heated. Includes built-in water shielding, supports high-repetition-rate operation, and is designed for low-cost maintenance suitable for commercial power plants.
• Demonstration System (DS) First-of-a-kind inertial fusion system composed of 156 identical pulser modules designed to achieve net facility gain (more fusion energy out than all stored energy input) by 2030. Targets 100× higher facility gain at 10× lower cost than the National Ignition Facility.
• Pacific Fusion Users Program (PFUP) Formal facility access program providing qualified external researchers from private industry, academia, and government access to Pacific Fusion's Demonstration System (when operational starting 2028) for fusion energy research, high-energy-density science, materials testing, medical isotope production, and national security applications. The DS will feature 17 configurable target-area diagnostics.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100x higher facility gain and 10x lower cost than the National Ignition Facility
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• Sandia National Laboratories (Z-Machine Operations Team)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 June 2026Ongoing collaboration with Z-Machine operations team for experiments on the world's most powerful pulsed power facility. Pacific Fusion won competitive selection for four shots to test simplified target designs, demonstrating breakthrough results for eliminating external hardware requirements.
• Flash Center at University of RochestermajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 September 2025Collaboration to advance a customized version of the FLASH code for modeling pulser-driven inertial confinement fusion targets, then rigorously validated it against benchmarks. This validated the simulation tools used to design targets for Pacific Fusion's Demonstration System.
• General AtomicscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 April 2025Expanded collaboration to develop pulsed magnetic fusion technology. General Atomics, which operates the DIII-D magnetic fusion tokamak and supplies components for ITER, will collaborate on full-scale fusion power plant components including system operations, cryogenics, production-scale manufacturing, and target fabrication.
• Lawrence Livermore National LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 January 2025CRADA partnership to deliver net facility gain and high-yield fusion (100+ megajoules) on Pacific Fusion's Demonstration System. LLNL achieved historic fusion ignition breakthrough at NIF in 2022 and is recognized as the premier U.S. national laboratory for inertial confinement fusion.
• Sandia National LaboratoriescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2024Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) established to leverage combined expertise in pulsed magnetic science and technology. Pacific Fusion is building a fast pulser similar to Sandia's Z Machine, which has achieved the highest pulsed magnetic fusion performance. The collaboration aims to advance pulser architectures and high-yield fusion capabilities.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Type One Energy: Stellarator fusion developer using high-field HTS magnets and optimized stellarator geometry. Comparable as a well-capitalized privately-funded fusion startup targeting commercial power with similar timeline.
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems: MIT-spinout and best-funded private fusion company, pursuing tokamak-based fusion with high-temperature superconducting magnets. Directly comparable as a well-capitalized U.S. fusion startup targeting commercial power in the early 2030s.
• TAE Technologies: Field-reversed configuration (FRC) fusion developer pursuing pulsed magnetic confinement with neutral-beam heating. Closely comparable to Pacific Fusion in approach category (magnetic confinement) and target customer base (utilities and hyperscalers).
• Helion Energy: Pulsed fusion developer using FRC plasmas compressed by magnetic fields to produce electricity directly. Comparable as a pulsed-magnetic inertial/FRC fusion competitor with announced hyperscaler PPAs (e.g., Microsoft).
• Tokamak Energy: Spherical tokamak fusion developer using high-temperature superconducting magnets. Directly comparable as a privately-funded fusion startup targeting grid-scale commercial power with a similar mid-2030s horizon.
• General Fusion: Magnetized target fusion (MTF) developer using pistons to compress a plasma target inside a liquid-metal liner. Comparable as a pulsed, magnetically-driven fusion startup with utility and government engagement.
• Zap Energy: Sheared-flow Z-pinch fusion developer that compresses plasma with its own flowing current. Comparable as a pulsed, magnetic-fusion approach without expensive external magnets or lasers.
• First Light Fusion: Projectile-driven inertial confinement fusion developer that compresses fuel via high-velocity projectiles. Closely comparable to Pacific Fusion as an inertial confinement fusion company pursuing commercial pulsed-power-driven fusion.

Emerging players

• Xcimer Energy: Laser-driven inertial fusion startup building a lower-cost inertial fusion system. Comparable as an inertial confinement fusion competitor pursuing cost-down via alternative driver architectures.
• Avalanche Energy: Modular, compact fusion developer using orbitron technology for small-scale fusion systems. Comparable as a private pulsed-fusion peer targeting smaller, distributed commercial applications.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pacificfusion

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pacific Fusion