Helion Secures $175 Million to Revolutionize Fusion Power Electronics

The capital injection will establish a domestic production line in Washington State, designed to manufacture advanced high-voltage and pulsed semiconductors. While current devices typically lose 5% to 10% of the electricity flowing through them, Helion CEO David Kirtley notes that halving these losses creates a multiplier effect on total power output. The new facility will be the first in the U.S. capable of producing this specific class of hardware, which serves critical needs in medicine, wastewater treatment, and defense alongside energy generation.

Helion is currently constructing its first power plant, Orion, to meet a 2028 deadline for supplying Microsoft. Although the newly funded R&D will likely arrive too late for the initial Orion launch, it is intended to optimize subsequent reactors. The award includes $100 million for packaging and research in Washington, with $80 million earmarked for collaboration with GlobalFoundries in Vermont. Complementing the federal grant, the company also disclosed an additional $50 million in private investment, bringing its total funding to over $3.2 billion.

Helion’s technology relies on direct energy conversion, which harvests electricity from magnetic fields rather than traditional steam turbines. Because this process requires rapid, high-efficiency recovery of energy, the performance of semiconductors is a fundamental constraint. By localizing the supply chain for these components, Helion expects to gain a competitive edge in electricity markets while bolstering domestic energy security.