Trump Media to merge with nuclear fusion company TAE
Matt O’Brien And Jennifer McDermott
Updated ,first published
The parent company of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social media platform is merging with a fusion energy company, with the Trump name unusually paired with a futuristic clean energy initiative aimed at powering the next wave of artificial intelligence. Trump Media & Technology announced it is merging with TAE Technologies in an all-stock deal that the companies say values it at more than US$6 billion ($9.1 billion).
The merged company said it plans to find a site and begin construction next year for “the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant,” which aims to provide the electricity needed for artificial intelligence.
Nuclear fusion is seen as a promising solution to climate change caused by burning fossil fuels, but it is a long way off compared to today’s clean technologies such as wind and solar. It will need major investments and regulations to move forward, making Trump’s ties a major conflict, said Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
“He’s jumping into this industry just like he jumped into cryptocurrency a few years ago,” Painter said. “Just as the United States government would be involved. And it’s so clear there’s a huge conflict of interest.”
Republican congressman Devin Nunes, who resigned in 2021 to become CEO of Trump Media, will be co-CEO of the new company along with TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer.
Shares of Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology, have fallen 70 percent this year but are up 34 percent in afternoon trading Thursday.
Trump owns 41 percent of all outstanding shares and is by far Trump Media’s largest shareholder. The rise in stocks added about $400 million ($605 million) to Trump’s net worth, according to Forbes.
Backed by Google and other investors, TAE is a privately held company, and the merger with Trump Media would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.
“We are taking a major step toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations,” Nunes said in a prepared statement.
TAE focuses on nuclear fusion, a technology that combines two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavy atomic nucleus. It releases enormous amounts of energy, a process that occurs in the sun and other stars, according to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.
TAE and Trump Media shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company.
In October, the U.S. Department of Energy released what it called a “road map” for fusion technology with the goal of promoting “a fusion private sector industry evolving to maturity in the United States on the fastest timeline.” A number of tech companies, including Google, Microsoft and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have expressed interest in fusion technology as a way to power power-hungry data centers needed to build and run AI products.
Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association, said Thursday that a new source of funding and the creation of a publicly traded nuclear fusion company “can only be a positive” because any technological breakthrough is a function of time and resources.
He added that this allows TAE to move forward and establish its pilot plant as quickly as possible at a yet-to-be-announced location.
“It is exciting for any of our member companies to raise new capital and secure a path to building a fusion-powered future, which is our ultimate goal,” Holland said.
Holland said fusion is the technology that can meet the huge energy demands of artificial intelligence. That’s because fusion is a clean, safe and sustainable energy that can be scaled when commercialized, he said.
Before this deal, $10 billion had been raised globally by private fusion companies racing to make fusion commercially viable for the first time, Holland said. The vast majority of fundraising and development occurs in the United States.
Holland said the Trump administration has said it strongly supports fusion but has not yet provided new financial support.
Holland said that in the association’s surveys of the industry, companies expect to see fusion energy on the power grid in the 2030s, with most expecting it in the first half of the 2030s.
TAE and Trump Media say the transaction values each TAE stock at $53.89 per share.
Upon closing, Trump Media & Technology Group, along with its subsidiaries TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences, will become the holding company for Truth Social and TAE.
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