Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is an MIT spinoff that focuses on commercializing fusion energy using revolutionary high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets to build smaller and lower-cost tokamak fusion systems. The company aims to manufacture these magnets and is building ‘SPARC’, its net energy fusion machine with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Following this, CFS plans to build a fusion power plant named ARC.

In February 2023, CFS opened its new 50-acre campus in Massachusetts, US. This will contain the company’s corporate headquarters, advanced manufacturing facility, and the SPARC facility.

Key customers and partnerships

In July 2022, CFS signed a five-year Collaboration Framework Agreement with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to carry out a series of work projects to support the development of fusion energy. In March 2023, CFS signed a framework agreement with Eni to carry out a series of work projects to advance fusion energy.

Funding and financials

In August 2023, CFS was awarded three undisclosed grants by the US Department of Energy’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program to fund research and development projects with the University of California at Berkeley, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, and University of California at Los Angeles. In May 2023, CFS was one of eight companies to receive a total of USD 46 million from the US Department of Energy’s Milestone-based Fusion Development Program to advance design, research and development for fusion power plants.

In November 2021, CFS raised USD 1.8 billion in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management. The company planned to use the proceeds to build and operate SPARC and commence deployment of ARC.