Trump Media bets on fusion energy with $6 billion TAE deal

(Reuters) - US President Donald Trump is getting into the fusion power business through a $6 billion merger of his social media firm and Google-backed TAE technologies, just days after industry representatives urged federal funding.

The all-stock deal announced on Thursday is an ambitious bet on the power boom spurred by artificial intelligence datacenters and adds to the Trump family's growing roster of diverse ventures from cryptocurrency to real estate holdings and mobile services.

Growing electricity needs of the technology industry has in recent months revived interest in nuclear power, including restarting fully shuttered reactors, expanding existing plants and signing contracts for future small modular reactors.

But despite decades of global efforts, nuclear fusion, often seen as a cleaner and reliable power source, has yet to produce a commercially viable reactor.

TAE has been working with Google Research for more than a decade on fusion science and its backers include Chevron and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas.

The company, which was founded in 1998, also operates an energy-storage business and a life sciences unit that develops biologically targeted radiotherapy to treat cancer.

DEAL TERMS

Shareholders of both companies will own about 50% of the combined entity after the deal closes in mid-2026. Trump Media and Technology Group will be the holding company for businesses including Truth Social platform, TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences.

Trump Media shares jumped 33% in premarket trading, drawing traction on Stocktwits, a social media hub for retail investors. The money-losing company's stock has declined nearly 70% this year.

"TAE will also clearly have major political support from President Trump in our view," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said

FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Companies and physicists at national laboratories have been trying for decades to foster fusion reactions, in which light atoms are forced together under extreme temperatures to release huge amounts of energy, a process that fuels the sun.

Big hurdles to commercialize fusion include getting more energy out of a reaction than what goes into it and developing plants that can withstand streams of fusion reactions to power the grid.

TAE CEO Binderbauer and other fusion company leaders met with U.S. Energy Department officials this month, weeks after the department formed its first ever fusion office.

The company, which has raised more than $1.3 billion in private funding, is aiming to develop and sell next generation neutral beam systems for fusion and related applications in a more cost effective manner.

Trump Media has agreed to provide up to $200 million in cash to TAE at signing and $100 million more upon initial filing of the registration. The deal has been approved by the companies' boards.

The two companies plan to begin construction on the world's first utility-scale fusion power plant after the deal closes.