PR97077

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., July 19, 2022 / PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Following scientific milestones with current fusion reactor, Norman, TAE

receives investments from long-term partner Google, as well as Chevron,

Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, and others to fund the construction of the

company's sixth-generation research reactor that will demonstrate the viability

of net energy from TAE's approach

After achieving temperatures greater than 75 million degrees Celsius and

demonstrating unmatched real-time control of plasma with its state-of-the-art

fusion research reactor, Norman, TAE Technologies (https://tae.com/) today

announced that it has secured strategic and institutional investments to fund

the construction of its next research reactor, Copernicus.

As the world leader in hydrogen-boron fusion research, TAE's non-radioactive

approach represents the fastest, most practical, and economically competitive

solution to bring abundant carbon-free energy to the grid. TAE's Copernicus

reactor, which will be constructed in a 100,000-square-foot facility in Irvine,

Calif., is designed to demonstrate the viability of achieving net energy

generation with TAE's advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC) –

the penultimate step on TAE's path to commercialize clean fusion power.

TAE's fifth-generation reactor, Norman, was unveiled in 2017 and was designed

to keep plasma stable at 30 million degrees Celsius. After five years of

experiments to optimize Norman's capabilities, the machine has proven capable

of sustaining stable plasma at more than 75 million degrees Celsius, 250%

higher than its original goal.

With a track record of over delivering on milestones and performance capacity,

TAE has attracted the support of visionary investors and to date has raised a

total of $1.2 billion for its commercial fusion development. In its recently

closed Series G-2 financing round, TAE secured $250 million from investors in

the energy, technology, and engineering sectors to support the company's

mission to deliver a long-term solution to rapidly growing electricity demand

while providing global energy independence and security. TAE's safe,

non-radioactive approach avoids carbon and particulate emissions, mitigating

any impact on the environment or climate change.

Chevron, Google, Reimagined Ventures, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, and

TIFF Investment Management are among the company's most recent investors, along

with a large U.S. West coast based mutual fund manager and a big U.S. pension

fund. Goldman Sachs served as the exclusive financial advisor in connection

with the Series G-2 financing round.

"The caliber and interest of our investors validates our significant technical

progress and supports our goal to begin commercialization of fusion by the end

of this decade," said Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE Technologies. "Global

electricity demand is growing exponentially, and we have a moral obligation to

do our utmost to develop a baseload power solution that is safe, carbon-free,

and economically viable."

Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) is TAE's first investor from Japan, and

will become a partner in deploying commercial power and other fusion-derived

technologies to the Asia-Pacific market. SCOA, the largest subsidiary of

Sumitomo Corporation, the Tokyo-based Fortune 500 global trading and business

investment company, has signed a commercial collaboration agreement to pursue

TAE-based technologies in Japan and Asia.

"We look forward to being a partner in bringing TAE's clean energy solutions to

the APAC market, which will be paramount to sustaining local economies without

impacting our planet," said Sandro Hasegawa, General Manager, Energy Innovation

Initiative Americas at SCOA. "We are pleased to support TAE's groundbreaking

fusion technology to create safe, sustainable energy sources across multiple

industries and applications."

This investment follows TAE's landmark public-private partnership

(https://tae.com/tae-technologies-partners-with-japans-institute-for-fusion-scie

nce-nifs-for-fusion-fuel-research/) with Japan's National Institute for Fusion

Science (NIFS).

Google continues to be an exceptional computational AI and machine learning

partner for TAE. With a collaboration that began in 2014, Google's investment

follows the success of the jointly developed Optometrist Algorithm

(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-06645-7), which deploys Google's

machine learning to optimize the operation of TAE's research reactors,

substantially advancing the rate of progress and ultimate performance achieved.

Programmatic steps that used to take well over a month can now be achieved

within one day. In addition, the companies have developed breakthrough

capabilities in holistically post-processing and integrating a large set of

independent diagnostic measurements to produce high fidelity insights into

experimental data at record-breaking scale

(https://ai.googleblog.com/2021/11/another-step-towards-breakeven-fusion.html).

Reimagined Ventures also joined this round as part of its mission to invest in

visionaries who are solving some of society's biggest challenges. "Limitless

zero-carbon clean energy is no longer a pipe dream – it's a future within reach

thanks to TAE Technologies' incredible scientific advancements," said Jack

Litowitz, Director of Strategic Investments at Reimagined Ventures. "Few

challenges are as complex as replicating the sun's energy generation process.

The number of sectors and lives that TAE's industry-leading work could

positively impact is immeasurable. We're proud to invest in Michl and his team

as we believe they're best positioned to forever alter the energy grid and

democratize access to renewable fusion-based power for all."

Chevron invested in TAE through its Technology Ventures unit, dedicated to

energy innovation. "TAE - and fusion technology as a whole - has the potential

to be a scalable source of no-carbon energy generation and a key enabler of

grid stability as renewables become a greater portion of the energy mix," said

Jim Gable, Vice President, Innovation and President of Chevron Technology

Ventures.

TIFF Investment Management Chief Investment Officer Jay Willoughby stated

"Opportunities to back extraordinarily talented teams who can change the world

do not come around often. The progress TAE has demonstrated and continues to

make on the road to safe, clean, commercial fusion power is unique and

something we all need."

THE TAE DIFFERENCE

What sets TAE apart from other fusion efforts is the company's proprietary

advanced beam-driven field-reversed configuration (FRC), a combination of

plasma physics and accelerator physics, developed to integrate into the grid

with TAE's preferred fuel source, hydrogen-boron, also known as proton-boron or

p-B11.

TAE is committed to non-radioactive hydrogen-boron both for its abundance - in

excess of 100,000 years supply globally - and because it is the cleanest,

safest, most economical terrestrial fuel cycle for fusion, with no geopolitical

concerns or proliferation risks. The company has worked toward delivering

cost-competitive, environmentally benign hydrogen-boron fusion since its

founding in 1998. Now, thanks to its proven money-by-milestone success and

steady scientific progress, TAE is on the cusp of achieving that goal. (See

https://tae.com/about-us/history/).

"Through successful training of Norman's state-of-the-art control system,

paired with proprietary power management technology and extensive optimization

of our machine learning algorithms, we have achieved a scale of control at an

unparalleled level of integrated complexity," said Binderbauer. "Our

long-standing expertise in fusion, together with seminal advances in design and

operational mastery, are paying off handsomely as we progress toward delivering

an inexhaustible clean energy source that has the capacity to transform the

human experience and sustain future generations."

About TAE Technologies

TAE Technologies (https://tae.com/) (pronounced T-A-E) was founded in 1998 to

develop commercial fusion power with the cleanest environmental profile. The

company's pioneering work represents the fastest, most practical, and

economically competitive solution to bring abundant clean energy to the grid.

With over 1,800 patents filed globally and over 1,100 granted, $1.2 billion in

private capital raised, five generations of National Laboratory-scale devices

built and two more in development, and an experienced team of over 400

employees, TAE is now on the cusp of delivering this transformational energy

source capable of sustaining the planet for thousands of years.

The company's revolutionary technologies have produced a robust portfolio of

commercial innovations in large adjacent markets such as power management,

energy storage, electric mobility, fast charging, life sciences, and more. TAE

is based in California, and maintains international offices in the UK and

Switzerland. Multidisciplinary and mission-driven by nature, TAE is leveraging

proprietary science and engineering to create a bright future.

Photo -

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SOURCE: TAE Technologies