The pressure on our power infrastructure has never been greater. We’re seeing an exponential rise in U.S. electricity demand as a result of artificial intelligence (AI), electrification, industrial reshoring, and population growth. The ICF projects demand will grow 25% by 2030—and by 2050, explode by 78%. Our grid is simply not prepared. The question isn’t if we’ll hit a breaking point—it’s when.
The U.S. continues to shut down fossil fuel plants, driven by aging infrastructure, high operational costs, and tightening CO2 emission standards (IEEFA). Even with current policy uncertainty around plant retirement and conversion, the trajectory is clear: a massive electricity gap is coming.
COMMENTARY
Solar and wind cannot fill this gap. By 2050, renewables are expected to provide only 44% of U.S. electricity (U.S. Energy Information Administration), but land limitations and intermittent output lead to high storage costs and reliability issues.
Fusion, however, is different. It’s the only technology that can deliver continuous, dispatchable power 24/7/365. Not only is fusion clean, sustainable, and cost-effective, but fusion plants can also be built into existing urban and industrial locations, plugging directly into today’s grid, significantly lowering development time and deployment costs.
Fusion: The Energy Revolution of Our Century
According to the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce, AI and fusion energy will define global leadership in the 21st century. “The nation that successfully commercializes fusion first will likely set the global standards, supply chains, and technological frameworks that will shape this industry for decades to come,” said Representative Brian Babin in an Energy Subcommittee Hearing in September.
After decades of research, and fusion being forever “30 years away,” commercial fusion is advancing faster than anyone anticipated. Research and Markets places near-term projections for commercial plants to begin operation between 2030-2035. IEEE’s 2025 Pulsed Power Conference in Berlin highlighted the imminent transition to commercial viability and the urgency of building our fusion supply chain and workforce.
Dozens of pilot and demonstration plants are in production across the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan, with companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Focused Energy, Helion, and Type One Energy leading the charge. Tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, and most recently, Google, have cemented relationships with fusion companies, signaling real momentum and industry validation. Commercial fusion is no longer theoretical. It’s happening now.
The U.S. must innovate and scale fusion to secure our place, influence, and competitive edge. We are already locked in an existential battle with China, which has leveraged aggressive investment and policy to seize control of global supply chains for solar panels (84%), wind turbines (60%), and lithium-ion batteries (77%). PV solar alone has created 1.6 million jobs for China and a $52 billion export market. This goes beyond lost profits—it represents a setback to our economic strength, security, and leadership in technology.
If we fail to lead in fusion and AI, we risk repeating the same mistakes, with even greater consequences.
With fusion, we can reverse this trend. Fusion’s global market is expected to reach more than $840 billion by 2040 (Precedence Research), growing at a 6% CAGR and attracting major investments from tech giants like Elon Musk, Sam Alman, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Marc Benioff—who know that AI and fusion are inextricably linked. They understand that whoever leads in these areas will shape our future.
To lead in fusion, the U.S. needs to address three key challenges:
- Technology Development: We need breakthrough R&D in advanced materials, electronics, lasers, magnetics, monitoring, and maintenance technologies to make fusion stable and economically viable.
- Supply Chain Resilience: Building a secure domestic fusion supply chain demands investment in U.S. manufacturing and workforce development.
- Distribution Infrastructure: Integrating fusion power requires modernizing the grid—including transmission and distribution systems capable of handling new load profiles and ensuring reliability.
One of the most critical—and costly—technologies supporting fusion are high-performance capacitors, which create massive bursts of energy to ignite the fusion process in both magnetic and pulsed laser inertial confinement fusion reactors, and also transfer fusion energy onto the grid. The films used in these capacitors are highly consumable. Helion’s upcoming 1-GW reactor will utilize roughly 10,000 metric tons of legacy capacitor films—enough to fill about 150 shipping containers. Shockingly, more than 80% of these films are imported from China.
As fusion scales, so does demand for capacitors and capacitor film, which could see a spike of 2-10x, according to Ignition Research. This is a glaring supply chain risk—but also, a huge strategic opportunity.
U.S.-based companies like Peak Nano are developing advanced solutions such as nanotechnology-based capacitor films. These films are manufactured here in the U.S. and offer higher energy density, can operate at temperatures over 50C higher than legacy imported films, and have a much longer lifespan—lasting 3 to 5 times longer. This innovation helps build a stronger American fusion supply chain, making our fusion industry more efficient, affordable, and reliable.
Powering a Resilient, Sustainable Future
To meet 25% of global power demand by 2025, the world will need around 1,500 fusion plants, according to Ignition Research. To achieve this, we must:
- Incentivize private investment and public-private partnerships in fusion and advanced materials.
- Build out domestic supply chains for every critical component.
- Modernize our grid and streamline regulatory processes for fusion deployment.
- Require government-funded fusion projects to source American-made technology.
Fusion holds immense promise, presenting a clean, affordable solution to deliver reliable power around the clock—every day of the year. Fusion is the foundation for U.S. energy independence, national security, and economic leadership. It can unlock massive market opportunities, create millions of jobs, and fuel growth in AI, IT, the life sciences, and beyond.
This is not a race where we can afford to come in second. If the U.S. fails to prioritize fusion development, we risk surrendering supply chains to China and handing fusion’s promise to our competitors.
Catching up with electricity demand will require the U.S. to transform the materials, technologies, and supply chains underpinning our energy systems. The choices we make now will determine whether America leads the world into the era of clean, abundant energy—or watches as others seize the future.
—Shaun Walsh is Chief Revenue Officer at Peak Nano.
