Exclusive: Google DeepMind partners with fusion startup
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Google DeepMind is partnering with a Boston-area energy startup to use AI to speed the development of fusion as a clean energy source.
What they're saying: "Everyone talks about how much energy AI is going to use, but AI can actually help the energy equation on the supply side too," Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) CEO Bob Mumgaard told Axios.
Driving the news: As part of the deal, CFS will use Google's open-source software to simulate the physics of plasma — the particles that reach 100 million° C to form fusion's fuel — as researchers attempt to figure out the most efficient systems.
- CFS plans to use the software, known as TORAX, to help optimize its SPARC fusion reactor before it's fully turned on in late 2026 or early 2027.
- The companies will also test how Google DeepMind's software could help with the operation of SPARC and future fusion energy systems. That effort builds on preliminary work Google conducted at a facility in Switzerland.
- The partnership formalizes joint work that began four years ago and is the latest in a series of deals between the two companies.
- Google said earlier this year it will buy 200 megawatts of energy from CFS, and parent company Alphabet is already an investor.
The move comes after Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced a roadmap for the agency's fusion efforts.
Yes, but: Even those developing the technology say commercial availability of fusion-derived energy is still years off.
- CFS has been aiming toward commercial availability in the early part of the next decade, and Mumgaard sees AI helping make that a reality.
- Mumgaard says fusion energy has long been seen as something only in the distant future, but notes that AI was once seen the same way. "We are close to breaking that meme," he said.
