Bill Gates befässt sich mit Kernfusion und erhält 4,7 Milliarden Yuan an Investitionen.

What will be the next big thing after AI? This month, both Silicon Valley giants and Chinese central state - owned enterprises have provided answers.

This month, NVentures, the venture - capital arm of NVIDIA, invested in TerraPower, a nuclear technology company founded by Bill Gates. Other participants in the investment include HD Hyundai of South Korea and Bill Gates himself. This round of financing amounts to $650 million, approximately 4.7 billion yuan, which will serve as the capital "fuel" for TerraPower to build its first reactor.

One day before TerraPower issued its announcement, PetroChina also released significant news: It will increase the capital of PetroChina Kunlun Capital by 3.275 billion yuan for investing in a controlled nuclear fusion project. According to The Paper, the investment target is none other than the national team of controlled nuclear fusion - China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd.

On one side are Silicon Valley's AI giants, and on the other side is the central state - owned enterprise PetroChina. They have both, without prior consultation, placed large - scale bets on the "artificial sun." An industrial competition centered around the ultimate energy source has begun. As of now, nine companies in the nuclear fusion industry chain in China have received investments, while American startup teams account for more than half of the nearly 50 global nuclear fusion enterprises. The technological and capital competition between China and the United States is accelerating the development of the nuclear fusion industry - perhaps this time, we won't have to wait another 50 years.

The richest man's nuclear energy company to generate electricity by 2030

In 2006, as Bill Gates gradually stepped back from the daily management of Microsoft, he shifted his focus to climate change and energy transformation. In the same year, he promoted the establishment of TerraPower, a nuclear technology company. Bill Gates serves as the chairman of the company's board, and the vice - chairman is his business partner and former Microsoft CTO, Nathan Myhrvold.

The company they lead is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. They have recruited a group of outstanding mathematicians and physicists globally and use supercomputers for mathematical simulations to find design solutions for the fourth - generation nuclear reactors. It should be noted that TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, does not research controlled nuclear fusion but is a nuclear fission company. The difference is that it represents an iterative upgrade of currently used nuclear power plants.

In its early days, TerraPower studied the traveling - wave reactor (TWR), a technology that can convert and utilize poor nuclear fuel. Later, based on the judgment of the market's flexible power demand, it shifted its research focus to the technology of the sodium - cooled fast reactor, Natrium.

The Nuclear Technology Forum has provided a comprehensive introduction to this technology. Its working principle is to use liquid sodium, which has a high boiling point and good thermal conductivity, as a coolant. After the nuclear fuel fissions and generates heat, the liquid sodium absorbs the heat from the reactor core. The high - temperature sodium transfers the heat to the intermediate sodium loop through an intermediate heat exchanger, and the intermediate loop then transfers the heat to the water/steam system or the molten - salt energy storage system, ultimately generating steam to drive a steam turbine for power generation. This technology, combined with the molten - salt energy storage system developed by TerraPower, can complement renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic and wind power and quickly respond to the power grid's demand.

The technical solution of the sodium - cooled fast reactor Natrium was officially recognized by the United States in 2020 and received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. According to foreign media reports, so far, the U.S. Department of Energy has allocated $2 billion to TerraPower.

Meanwhile, the technological breakthroughs and Bill Gates' endorsement have attracted many institutional investors to TerraPower. According to PitchBook data, before the new financing this month, TerraPower had raised over $1 billion. The investors include Cascade Investment, Charles River Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Reliance Industries of India, South Korea's SK Group, etc.

Cascade Investment is Bill Gates' family office. Charles River Ventures is an established institution that has invested in companies like Twitter, and Khosla Ventures was one of the earliest investors in OpenAI. Reliance Industries of India is a well - known name; it was founded by Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India. If we also consider NVIDIA and HD Hyundai, which participated in this investment, TerraPower's circle of friends already includes the "aristocratic circles" of the United States, South Korea, and India.

With official support and capital promotion, TerraPower's Natrium reactor is quickly moving from the concept stage to reality. In June last year, TerraPower completed the reactor site selection. They plan to build their first small modular nuclear reactor near a coal - fired power plant in Wyoming that is about to be decommissioned. According to the plan, this nuclear power plant will start commercial power generation in the autumn of 2030, and at that time, TerraPower will also expand significantly, building 10 to 12 reactors.

Silicon Valley is witnessing a wave of nuclear power investment

TerraPower is certainly not the only nuclear power enterprise supported by Bill Gates.

The Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which he initiated in 2015, has invested in at least three nuclear technology companies. One is Pacific Fusion, a nuclear fusion company using pulsed magnetic drive technology, which received investment last October. The second is Type One Energy, a nuclear fusion company with a stellarator design, which was invested in last July. The third is Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), which collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received investment earlier - this company also set a record in the industry in 2021 with a single - round financing of $1.8 billion (approximately 13 billion yuan).

In his best - selling book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Bill Gates explained his proactive attitude towards nuclear energy investment - "No clean energy source can come close to nuclear energy in terms of power - generation scale."

It's not just Bill Gates. Investing in nuclear energy has become a consensus among Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs.

At the beginning of this month, TAE Technologies, an established nuclear fusion company founded in 1998, announced the completion of a new round of $150 million in financing. The investors include Google, Chevron, NEA, and other institutions. This company has received a total of $1.35 billion in investment so far, with Google participating in three rounds. Another company, X - energy, a developer of small modular reactors (SMR), has received investment from Amazon, Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel, and the Emerson Collective under Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs.

In addition, Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, participated in the $900 million Series A financing of the fusion startup Pacific Fusion; Jeff Bezos has bet on the Canadian nuclear fusion enterprise General Fusion. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has even invested in two companies: Oklo and Helion Energy. Helion Energy has signed the world's first commercial agreement in the field of nuclear fusion power generation with Microsoft: It will supply 50 megawatts of power to Microsoft at a price of 1 cent per kilowatt - hour in 2028 - it can start generating power in three years, no wonder Sam Altman believes that "the breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology is just around the corner."

In terms of the number of companies, the nuclear energy industry is also experiencing a startup boom. Before 2017, there were only 14 commercial nuclear technology companies worldwide. However, since 2018, commercial nuclear fusion companies have shown a rapid growth trend. Five relevant companies were established globally in 2018, seven in 2019, six in 2021, and nine in 2022. As of the end of 2023, there were 43 nuclear fusion enterprises globally, with more than half, as many as 25, being American companies.

The reasons for the nuclear energy boom are two - fold. On the one hand, the climate crisis is driving humanity to seek cleaner and safer energy sources; on the other hand, the development of artificial intelligence has led to a significant increase in power demand.

In April this year, the International Energy Agency released the Energy and Artificial Intelligence report, revealing the real - world data on AI's energy consumption:

When a user has a single conversation with an AI, the cloud server consumes 2 watt - hours of electricity, approximately equivalent to the power consumption of a light bulb being on for ten minutes; if an AI is used to generate a video, the power consumption rises to 50 watt - hours, enough to keep an electric fan running for about 1 hour. The report also takes OpenAI's GPT - 4 as an example. During the 14 - week data model training, this data model consumed 42.4 gigawatt - hours of electricity, with a daily power consumption of 0.43 gigawatt - hours, which is equivalent to the daily power consumption of 28,500 European and American households.

According to the prediction of the consulting firm ICF, driven by artificial intelligence data centers, the production capacity of emerging manufacturing industries, and the electrification of the oil and gas industry, the U.S. power demand will increase by 25% between 2023 and 2030 and by 78% by 2050. Such a huge energy demand can only be met by investing in nuclear energy, which is more stable than wind, solar, and hydro - power.

As Mohamed Siddeek, the head of NVIDIA's venture - capital arm, said in the statement regarding the investment in TerraPower, "As artificial intelligence continues to transform industries, nuclear energy will become an important energy source to support these capabilities." The end - game of AI is new energy, and the Silicon Valley tycoons have set the tone.

"If the United States doesn't take the lead, then China will"

While American investors are making aggressive moves, China's nuclear energy industry is also accelerating.

Let's first look at the news from the national - team players. On June 17, Zhongyou Capital, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), announced that the company plans to jointly increase the capital of its previously - invested company, PetroChina Kunlun Capital Co., Ltd., with CNPC and PetroChina Company Limited in equal proportions for investing in a controlled nuclear fusion project. The three companies will jointly increase the capital by 3.275 billion yuan. According to The Paper, the investment target is China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., which was initiated and established by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) at the end of 2023.

There has been a continuous stream of news about financing for fusion energy since this year. In February, China National Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Energy Electric Power Co., Ltd. announced a strategic investment of 1.75 billion yuan in this company. In April, the Shanghai Future Fusion Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was jointly established by the Shanghai 10 - billion Future Starting Point Fund, Shanghai State - owned Assets Investment Co., Ltd., Shanghai Electric Group Co., Ltd., and Minhang JinTou, and it serves as an investment platform for Shanghai's state - owned assets to participate in the investment in China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd.

After the completion of the above - mentioned transactions, CNNC directly and indirectly holds 57% of the shares in China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., PetroChina Kunlun Capital (affiliated with PetroChina) holds 20%, and Shanghai Future Fusion Energy Technology Co., Ltd. holds 11.81%. The three parties jointly control China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd.

The national - team players are also at the forefront in terms of R & D progress. In May, CNNC announced that the new - generation artificial sun, "HL - 2M" has achieved a plasma current of one million amperes, an ion temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, and high - confinement - mode operation. The comprehensive parameter of the fusion triple product has reached a new high, reaching the order of 10 to the 20th power, indicating that China's nuclear fusion research is rapidly advancing towards the burning experiment stage.

Now, let's look at private companies. After 2021, startup teams from universities such as Tsinghua University and the University of Science and Technology of China have established commercial companies. At least six controlled nuclear fusion teams have emerged in China, namely Energy Singularity in Shanghai, Fusion New Energy and Star Energy Xuanguang in Hefei, Star Ring Fusion in Xi'an, Ocean Fusion in Chengdu, and the nuclear fusion project under ENN Group. Behind these companies are a group of well - known institutions such as Zhongke Chuangxing, NIO Capital, Hefei Industrial Investment, PetroChina Kunlun Capital, Mihoyo, Huaying Capital, Inno Angel Fund, Shunwei Capital, and Sequoia China Seed Fund.

Some enterprises have achieved stage - specific results. For example, Energy Singularity has built the high - temperature superconducting tokamak "Honghuang 70" and plans to complete "Honghuang 170" by 2027. The "Xuanlong - 50U" spherical tokamak independently developed by ENN Group has achieved megampere - level hydrogen - boron plasma discharge and plans to achieve commercial power generation by 2035.

In addition, there are two startup companies that provide supporting services for nuclear fusion projects. One is Xirong Zhaobo, founded in Hefei in 2022, which mainly focuses on the R & D of radio - frequency heating equipment; the other is Yixi Technology, founded in Shanghai in the same year, which mainly works on high - temperature superconducting materials. Both companies have completed their angel - round financing.

Compared with the dominance of the private sector in the United States, China's nuclear fusion industry is adopting a development strategy where the national - team and private - sector players are advancing side by side and complementing each other strategically. Coupled with the industrial development policies introduced by the National Energy Administration and local governments, the development of China's nuclear fusion industry is accelerating.

In March this year, CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel) launched a 13 - minute special program that not only introduced nuclear fusion but also focused on the competition between China and the United States in the field of nuclear fusion. The program quoted Andrew Holland, the CEO of the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) in the United States, who said, "If you care about AI, if you care about energy leadership... you must invest in fusion. If the United States doesn't take the lead, then China will."

There is no doubt that the R & D progress and engineering capabilities of Chinese enterprises have put pressure on the U.S. nuclear fusion industry. Will companies like Energy Singularity repeat the success story of China's photovoltaic and new - energy vehicle industries in overtaking their competitors? This is certainly one of the hot topics in the industry. However, looking at nuclear fusion from the perspective of great - power competition seems a bit short - sighted, as this is a super - narrative that concerns the future of our blue planet for the next few hundred years.

References:

1. Nuclear Technology Forum, TerraPower Natrium Reactor

2. The Paper, Exclusive | Betting on Nuclear Fusion, PetroChina Kunlun Capital to Become the Second - Largest Shareholder of China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Dongsi Shitiao Capital" (ID: DsstCapital), written by Yang Boyu and published by 36Kr with authorization.