Helion Secures $175M Federal Funding for Fusion Semiconductor Development

Helion announced on Thursday that the company received $175 million in federal funding for research, development and manufacturing of advanced semiconductors and power electronics for fusion plants. The Department of Commerce provided the three-year award through the CHIPS Act, a Biden-era law intended to strengthen domestic semiconductor module research, development and manufacturing. Helion also disclosed a new private investment of $50 million without naming the investor. Helion has secured more than $3.2 billion overall, placing the company second among fusion startups by funding.

The semiconductor and power electronics devices currently waste about 5% to 10% of the electricity passing through them. Those losses can accumulate within a complex system such as Helion's. Helion co-founder and CEO David Kirtley said reducing those losses by half would double the fusion system's power output. The award will help Helion establish automated capacity for semiconductor modules, packaging and testing to supply the fusion machine now being built. The planned Washington State production line will be the first domestic facility producing a semiconductor class also used in manufacturing, wastewater treatment, medicine and defense. Kirtley said the United States currently has no manufacturers producing those advanced, high-voltage and pulsed semiconductors.

Kirtley said more than $100 million will fund semiconductor and advanced packaging research and development in Washington State. Kirtley said approximately $80 million will support work with GlobalFoundries in Vermont on advanced semiconductor tooling, design and process development. GlobalFoundries separately received more than $80 million in federal funding to advance gallium-nitride semiconductor manufacturing. Gallium-nitride semiconductors have widespread applications in power electronics.

Helion is trying to finish Orion, the company's first power plant, before a 2028 deadline for supplying Microsoft with electricity through the grid. Kirtley said the research financed by the award will not be incorporated into Orion before launch. Federal contract negotiations can take months. Kirtley said the research promises to make later Helion plants more efficient and therefore more competitive in electricity markets.

Helion's fusion design depends heavily on semiconductor efficiency because the design extracts electricity from fusion reactions directly instead of producing steam to drive turbines. Helion is developing a field-reversed configuration reactor. The reactor injects fusion fuel at opposite ends of a chamber shaped like an hourglass and heats the fuel into plasma. Magnetic fields accelerate the plasmas toward one another. Another magnetic field compresses the plasma after collision, increasing the temperature above 100 million degrees C. At those temperatures and pressures, fuel atoms begin fusing, releasing energy and forcing the plasma outward. The expanding plasma pushes against the magnetic field, allowing magnets and capacitors to capture the energy and convert the energy into electricity. The process resembles regenerative braking in hybrid and electric vehicles.

Helion says direct energy conversion will enable future reactors to generate more power than the reactors consume. Any commercially viable fusion plant must achieve that milestone. Efficient power electronics are essential to the process. Kirtley said modern semiconductors enable rapid electricity recovery at high efficiency after electricity is supplied to the fusion system. Kirtley said Helion intends to increase that efficiency further.

Electric vehicles currently provide the broadest application for advanced power electronics. Consumer electronics could also benefit, although consumer devices have smaller size and power requirements than Helion's equipment. The defense sector is another likely beneficiary. Energy weapons have attracted renewed attention as drone swarms have overwhelmed existing battlefield air defenses. Bill Frauenhofer, who leads semiconductor investment and innovation at the Department of Commerce, said the award will support power conversion and delivery for defense, grid transmission and advanced energy generation. However, Kirtley said Helion remains focused on supplying the electricity grid despite possible defense contracts. Kirtley described domestic energy supply and national security through energy dominance and energy security as Helion's principal priorities.