US Pacific Fusion Breaks Ground on $1 Billion Fusion Facility in New Mexico

On August 25, local time, Pacific Fusion launched construction of a research and manufacturing campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The project involves an investment of approximately $1 billion and will be used to build the company's fusion demonstration system, with goals including achieving "net facility gain" and producing high-yield fusion energy pulses.

The campus is located in the Mesa del Sol area of Albuquerque. According to Pacific Fusion's plan, the demonstration system aims to achieve net energy gain at the facility level by 2030, meaning the fusion device outputs more energy than the total energy initially stored in the equipment. The company stated that if this goal is achieved, it will represent an important technological milestone in the commercialization of fusion energy.

The demonstration system also plans to produce fusion energy pulses exceeding 100 megajoules. The relevant capabilities can be used for high-energy-density scientific research and provide an experimental platform for national security-related research such as scientific management of the nuclear weapons stockpile. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Pacific Fusion to collaborate in areas including high-yield fusion, high-energy-density science, pulsed power technology, advanced materials, and modeling and simulation.

Pacific Fusion was founded in 2023, is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has operations in New Mexico. The company is developing a pulsed-power-driven inertial confinement fusion system, employing modular, scalable manufactured components and using relatively accessible materials. Its technical approach is related to long-standing fusion, pulsed power, and high-energy-density physics research conducted at U.S. national laboratories.

In addition to the Albuquerque campus, Pacific Fusion is expanding production capacity in Los Lunas, New Mexico, to manufacture modular pulsed power components needed for the fusion system. The company stated that the next key technical milestone is demonstrating a full-scale pulsed power generator module, which will serve as a core component of its fusion system.

The research and manufacturing campus is expected to bring approximately 200 permanent positions and create hundreds of jobs in construction and regional supporting sectors. New Mexico officials expressed hope that the project will strengthen the local industrial base in energy innovation, applied physics, and advanced manufacturing.

Pacific Fusion stated that its long-term goal is to advance fusion energy toward practicality, affordability, and scalability, and to lay the foundation for the manufacturing, supply chain, and infrastructure of future fusion power generation systems.