In a surprise announcement on Thursday, the parent company of Truth Social, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), said it signed a merger agreement with TAE Technologies, a California-based fusion energy developer, in a deal valued at more than $6 billion.
The merger, which would create one of the world’s first publicly traded fusion companies, positions the combined entity to capitalize on surging demand for reliable, carbon-free power — particularly to support the explosive growth of artificial intelligence data centers.
Markets reacted enthusiastically. Shares of TMTG (ticker: DJT) surged as much as 40% in morning trading before closing around 30% higher, adding billions to its market capitalization on heavy volume.
Under the terms, TAE and TMTG shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the new company on a fully diluted basis. TMTG, which reported $3.1 billion in total assets as of its third-quarter 2025 filing, has committed up to $300 million in cash to bridge TAE toward commercialization, including $200 million at signing.
Devin Nunes, TMTG’s chairman and CEO who will serve as co-CEO alongside TAE’s Michl Binderbauer, framed the merger as a strategic leap beyond social media. “Fusion power will be the most dramatic energy breakthrough since the onset of commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s,” Nunes said in the announcement. “It will lower energy prices, boost supply, ensure America’s AI supremacy, revive our manufacturing base, and bolster national defense.”
Founded in 1998, TAE has built and operated five research reactors and raised more than $1.3 billion from investors including Google, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Goldman Sachs. The company says recent advances have dramatically reduced reactor size, cost, and complexity, paving the way for utility-scale plants. It said it plans to break ground on a 50-megawatt demonstration facility in 2026, with larger 350–500 MW plants to follow.
Fusion power works by smashing together the nuclei of light atoms — typically a variation of hydrogen, called isotopes, which consist of protons and sometimes extra neutrons — at extreme temperatures to form heavier ones, releasing vast amounts of energy. The Sun itself is a giant fusion reactor, continuously “fusing” hydrogen isotopes in its core to produce the heat and light that sustain life on Earth.
By contrast, today’s traditional nuclear reactors rely on fission — splitting heavy uranium atoms — a process that generates long-lived radioactive waste and carries meltdown risks.
The term “fission” was coined in 1939 by Austrian-Swedish physicist Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch, who drew an analogy to how cells divide in biology. The word evokes the Latin root for cleaving or cracking open, much like a fissure.
Fusion, however, promises no meltdown danger, minimal radioactive byproducts, and abundant fuel drawn from sources like deuterium in seawater. Long hailed by scientists as the “holy grail” of clean energy for its potential to deliver virtually unlimited carbon-free electricity, it has nevertheless remained elusive at commercial scale for decades.
The merger also folds TAE’s subsidiaries into the TMTG portfolio: TAE Power Solutions, which develops energy storage and power-delivery systems for electric vehicles and AI data centers, and TAE Life Sciences, focused on targeted cancer radiotherapy.
Some analysts saw the move as a bold pivot for TMTG, which has posted operating losses amid modest revenue from its social-media and streaming operations.
Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group — an advisor to the merger — called the deal “America’s answer to fusion energy and why it matters for AI dominance,” adding that TAE represents “one of the most promising paths to achieving abundant clean fusion energy while powering America’s AI boom and supporting America’s critical path to energy independence.”
Meanwhile, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities called the move “a major bet on nuclear fusion power” that “creates the first public nuclear fusion company in the US with backers from Google and Chevron.” He added, “AI Arms Race underway and nuclear energy front and center for Big Tech. This will be the US key play on nuclear fusion.”
Still, the deal highlights the persistent challenges facing fusion energy. Despite decades of global research and billions invested, no commercial fusion plant yet produces electricity for the grid — a reality that has fueled the industry’s longstanding joke that viable fusion power is “always 30 years away.” TAE’s planned 2026 groundbreaking for a utility-scale facility remains ambitious amid ongoing technical hurdles to achieving sustained net energy gain.
The companies said in their joint statement that the transaction, approved by both boards, is expected to close in mid-2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. Michael B. Schwab, a longtime TAE investor, is slated to chair the nine-member board, which will include Nunes, Donald Trump Jr. and Binderbauer.
The deal marks a dramatic expansion for TMTG, which went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2024 and has since launched financial-services and streaming ventures under the Truth brand. For TAE, public-market access and fresh capital could accelerate its push toward the promise of effectively endless, clean energy.
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Christina Botteri is the Executive Editor at The Tennessee Star. Follow her on X at @christinakb.
