Google has announced its first commercial commitment to fusion energy through a partnership with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) spinoff.

The tech giant plans to purchase 200 megawatts (MW) of clean fusion power from CFS’s ARC, claimed to be the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant, located in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Once operational in early 2030s, ARC is expected to generate 400MW of zero-carbon power, sufficient to power large industrial sites or approximately 150,000 homes, CFS said.  

Google also holds the option to purchase power from additional ARC plants.

Google head of advanced energy Michael Terrell said: “By entering into this agreement with CFS, we hope to help prove out and scale a promising pathway toward commercial fusion power.

“We are excited to make this longer-term bet on a technology with transformative potential to meet the world’s future energy demand, and support CFS in their efforts to reach the scientific and engineering milestones needed to get there.”

CFS CEO and co-founder Bob Mumgaard said: “Our strategic deal with Google is the first of many as we move to demonstrate fusion energy from SPARC and then bring our first power plant online.

“We aim to demonstrate fusion’s ability to provide reliable, abundant, clean energy at the scale needed to unlock economic growth and improve modern living – and enable what will be the largest market transition in history.”

Google has been investing in CFS since 2021 and recently increased its stake in the Devens, Massachusetts-based company.

However, the financial terms of the agreement remain undisclosed.

Fusion energy, the process that powers the sun and stars, involves heating light atomic nuclei to more than 100 million °C.

At these temperatures, the fuel becomes plasma, and when dense enough, the nuclei fuse, releasing energy that can be harnessed for carbon-free electricity.

CFS aims to achieve commercial-scale fusion energy by using high-temperature superconductor magnets arranged in a tokamak configuration to confine and control the plasma.

This approach aims to create the necessary conditions for fusion to occur, moving closer to the “net energy positive” milestone.

Google’s investment in fusion energy extends beyond CFS.

Last month, Google announced continued funding for TAE Technologies, a California-based fusion energy company, as part of a $150m funding round.

As tech companies seek cleaner power sources for AI data centres, both Amazon and Google have pledged to support a three-fold increase in global nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

Currently, nuclear energy accounts for 9% of global electricity generation from 439 reactors.

Amazon has invested over $1bn in nuclear energy projects and is exploring small modular reactor initiatives.

In February 2025, Iberdrola and Amazon signed 476MW in power purchase agreements, expanding their renewable energy partnership to five countries.