Starting in 2015, Google Research collaborated with TAE, applying AI to drive significant improvements in plasma temperature and lifetime, and help them better understand its behavior — because you can’t just stick a probe in the super hot plasma. Our direct support included engineers from my team working at the TAE facility.

Based partially on insights gained from our joint plasma reconstruction work, in 2023, TAE realized they could simplify their fusion machine. TAE then rebuilt their machine and showed it worked. This was impressive, because in order to make fusion power economically viable, it’s important to reduce complexity and cost.

We’ve been an investor in TAE since 2015, and recently participated in TAE’s latest funding round, positioning them as a leading contender in the race to achieve fusion.

We look forward to TAE’s continued progress with their distinctive pathway to fusion — one of our bets for a cleaner energy future.

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/tae-google-investment/