Google DeepMind alumni are building tools to accelerate fusion power for the grid

Federico Felici and Jonas Buchli, alumni of Google DeepMind, have founded Fusionality, a company in Lausanne, Switzerland, to develop tools to accelerate fusion power for the grid. They were inspired by the repeated requests from fusion companies for components to build their control systems, but the lack of providers who understand the specific needs of fusion.

The founders have spent years solving these problems, developing new ways to control experimental fusion devices. This led to the founding of Fusionality, which quickly raised a $3.7 million (CHF 3 million) pre-seed round. The company's CEO and CTO are Felici and Buchli respectively. Fusionality is part of an emerging supply chain catering to the fusion power industry, with startups specializing in components, high-precision parts, and control systems.

However, few companies focus on both hardware and software for controlling fusion reactors. Fusion power plants generate electricity through the fusion of atoms, which requires maintaining the plasma's temperature, shape, and fuel level. The control systems for this process are complex to develop and deploy, with much of the fundamental physics being consistent across reactor designs.

Fusionality plans to build on this commonality to create a suite of control systems and simulation environments for startups to fine-tune to their specific designs. AI will play a role in future control systems but will likely enhance and optimize existing systems rather than control the entire reactor. Currently focusing on magnetic confinement fusion, a common approach using electromagnets, Fusionality aims to eventually develop systems for other fusion approaches.