The Shocking Reality: 25% Workforce Cut After Breakthrough

Just days after hitting a critical plasma compression milestone with its LM26 device, General Fusion delivered brutal pink slips to a quarter of its team. This isn’t just corporate restructuring – it’s a five-alarm warning for the entire fusion industry.

“Today’s funding landscape is more challenging than ever as investors and governments navigate a rapidly shifting and uncertain political and market climate.”

Greg Twiney, General Fusion CEO

Fusion’s Cold Hard Truth: $440M Isn’t Enough

Let that number sink in: $440 million raised over 23 years. Backed by heavyweights like Jeff Bezos and Temasek. And yet? Still not enough to prove their steam-piston fusion approach can work.

• Commonwealth Fusion: $2B+ war chest
• Helion: $1B in funding
• Pacific Fusion: $900M Series A alone

The Nuclear-Sized Problem No One’s Talking About

Here’s the brutal math fusion startups face:

• Scientific breakeven? Achieved once (barely)
• Commercial breakeven? Requires 50X more energy output
• Time to prove viability? Running out FAST

Betting Against the Fusion Establishment

While competitors chase magnetic or laser confinement, General Fusion’s steam-piston approach is the ultimate high-risk moonshot. The U.S. Navy tried similar tech in the 1970s and failed spectacularly.

But here’s the kicker: their LM26 device could theoretically hit scientific breakeven… if they can stay alive long enough to prove it.

The Make-or-Break Moment

General Fusion now faces the ultimate startup stress test:

• Prove their unorthodox tech works
• Do it with a skeleton crew
• Raise more cash in the worst funding climate in years

This isn’t just about one company’s survival – it’s a referendum on whether alternative fusion approaches deserve a seat at the table in the race for limitless energy.