Trump Media to merge with nuclear fusion company to power AI

Just days after industry representatives urged federal funding, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, merged his social media company with Google-backed TAE Technologies for a $ 6 billion deal.

The Trump family’s growing list of diverse ventures, including real estate holdings and mobile services, includes the all-stock deal, which was announced on Thursday. It is an ambitious bet on the power boom spurred by artificial intelligence (AI) data centres.

In recent months, the technology sector’s growing electricity demand has revived interest in nuclear power, including restarting fully operational reactors, expanding existing ones, and signing contracts for upcoming small modular reactors.

However, despite decades of international efforts, nuclear fusion, which is frequently regarded as a safe and trustworthy power source, has yet to have a commercially viable reactor.

Chevron and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas are among the companies that TAE has supported for more than a decade in fusion science.

The business, which was established in 1998, also has a life sciences division that develops biologically targeted radiotherapy for cancer treatment.

After the deal closes in the middle of 2026, the two companies’ shareholders will own approximately 50% of the total. The holding companies for TAE Power Solutions, TAE Life Sciences, and Truth Social platform will be Trump Media and Technology Group.

Major political support

Early trading saw a rise in Trump Media shares, which increased by nearly 33 percent, on Stocktwits, a social media platform for retail investors. This year, the stock of the money-losing business dropped by nearly 70%.

According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, “TAE will obviously have major political support from President Trump.”

Trump’s close relatives have started businesses to use his political influence and policy changes following his election victory this year. As the president throws his support behind digital financial assets, the Trump family has, for instance, amassed billions in crypto-related wealth.

National laboratories and business have long worked to promote fusion reactions, which combine light atoms in excruciating temperatures to release a lot of energy, a process that fuels the sun.

Making fusion more energy out of a reaction than what enters it and creating plants that can withstand fusion reaction streams to power the grid are significant obstacles to commercializing fusion.

This month, just weeks after the US Energy Department established its first fusion office, TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer and other fusion company leaders met with US Energy Department officials.

Terms of the agreement

The business, which has raised more than $1.3 billion in private funding, wants to create and market the most affordable neutral beam systems for fusion and related applications.

Trump Media has agreed to give TAE up to $200 million in cash upon registration filing, and $100 more upon signing. The boards of the businesses have approved the deal.

The first utility-scale fusion power plant in the world will be constructed by the two companies next year. In an investor call, Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman who resigned in 2021 to take over as the company’s CEO, stated that the companies intend to “quickly seek approvals” once the deal is closed, with plans to find a location for the plant set to begin by the end of 2026.

Nunes did not provide any additional information about the brief, eight-minute investor call.

Along with Binderbauer, he will also serve as the new company’s co-CEO. Nunes, Binderbauer, and Donald Trump Junior will serve on the combined company’s nine-member board.