Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) announced on Thursday that it would receive $85 million from the U.S. government to develop advanced chips for the fusion power industry.
Fusion power startups have been racing to complete their first demonstration devices, with CFS aiming to turn on its Sparc reactor sometime next year. But building one reactor is just a proof point. If fusion startups want to build dozens of commercial power plants, they’ll need more durable power electronics and a robust supply chain.
The new CHIPS Act award from the Department of Commerce, which also grants the government a stake in CFS, will help boost R&D and manufacturing capacity for semiconductors in the U.S., the company said.
“Ultimately, that means a more capable, economical power plant and a stronger U.S. supply chain to build it,” Brandon Sorbom, co-founder and chief science officer at CFS, wrote in a blog post.
CFS’s award will go toward supporting five different initiatives.
The first is the advancement of silicon carbide power electronics. The semiconductors are widely used to manage high voltages, and they’re found in everything from LEDs and EVs to cell phone base stations and data centers. It’s also used in fusion machines, where intense bursts of electricity are used to drive the superconducting magnets that confine plasma inside a reactor.
CFS will also use the award to develop next-generation radio-frequency power generators, which the company uses to heat fusion fuel, and advanced electronics that will enable faster control of the reactor and be hardened against radiation. The latter could help extend the lifespan of electronics within a fusion power plant, reducing operating costs.
Lastly, CFS plans to use part of the CHIPS award to adapt AI hardware like GPUs and TPUs for power plants.
“The funding would help improve the U.S. chip and power electronics industries at the same time it accelerates fusion energy’s progress toward the electrical grid,” Sorbom said.
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Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor.
De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.
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