Helion Energy

Rohan Paul

@rohanpaul_ai

Sam Altman’s fusion startup, Helion Energy, reached a record 150M° plasma temps, a milestone that could move it closer to first grid-connected commercial-grade reactions in 2028. This clears a key physics hurdle while Helion keeps pushing for first grid power in Washington State in 2028. Fusion tries to get energy by forcing light nuclei to merge in a plasma, but on Earth the hard part is making the plasma hot and dense enough, and holding it long enough, without the machine eating more power than it makes. Hotter plasma raises the chance that nuclei collide and fuse before the plasma cools or escapes. Unlike tokamak-based competitors like Commonwealth Fusion Systems that mainly make heat and then plan to run turbines, Helion says its magneto-inertial design is built to pull electricity out more directly by using changing magnetic fields to induce current in coils. Helion says Polaris ran deuterium-tritium fuel, and the company is building its 50MW Orion plant in Malaga, Washington, tied to a deal to supply Microsoft, but it still has major engineering and integration work before “electrons to the grid” happens. --- fortune .com/2026/02/13/sam-altman-fusion-helion-energy-milestone-doubters-grid-power-2028/

Alex Volkov

@altryne

Sama gets grilled on @Helion_Energy - Q: Do you own approximately 22.8 million shares of Helion Energy? A: "Yes." Q: Did you first invest in Helion Energy in 2015? A: "I've invested several times, but that was the first." Q: Are the founders of Helion Energy friends of yours? A: "Yes." Q: Are you aware that Helion has an agreement with Microsoft to provide them with energy in 2028? @sama A: Yes Q: You own somewhere between a quarter and a half of @Helion_Energy A: I own closer to a third of Helion Q: Your Helion shares were worth about $1.65 billion as of December 2025? A: "Yes." Q: You also hold warrants in Helion? A: "Yes." Q: In 2024, OpenAI signed a scaled deployment agreement with Helion as a roadmap for potential future power purchases? A: "Yeah, I want to be clear. OpenAI has never bought or received any power from Helion, but this was a way for us to have the opportunity to do that in the future." Q: You say you were recused from the deal on both sides and did not sign it? A: "I was recused from it on both sides. So I didn't sign it. I think OpenAI signed it."

Ramez Naam

@ramez

Direct electricity conversion, from the fusion reaction to electricity (bypassing making steam and turning a turbine) is IMHO a key to making fusion cheap. It's one of the things I love about the @Helion_Energy design. Happy to see more companies going this way.

ApoStructura

@ApoStructura

Helion Energy just closed a $465 million series G which triples their valuation to $15.5 billion and brings total funding to roughly $1.5 billion. It’s still a high risk business but we’re starting to see some real capital being invested, might see commercial fusion soon(ish)! https://t.co/O5sjiLlFWJ

Owen Lewis

@is_OwenLewis

Helion Energy just raised $465 million in a Series G round, bringing its total funding to $1.5 billion and valuing the company at $15.5 billion post-money. https://t.co/vYbyMQD6tv The fresh capital will accelerate manufacturing scale up and commercial deployment of its pulsed magneto-inertial fusion technology, which uses helium-3 fuel to generate electricity directly instead of heating water to spin a turbine. “Fusion is no longer a future idea, but a path to clean, reliable, affordable always-on electricity at scale. This funding accelerates our ability to deliver on that promise." —@Dkirtley (CEO of @Helion_Energy) Helion has a landmark power purchase agreement with Microsoft to deliver 50 MW of fusion power to the grid by 2028 — the first such commercial deal in the industry. It also has a separate agreement with Nucor for a much larger 500 MW plant in the 2030s. The round comes as demand for reliable, baseload power surges, driven heavily by AI data centers. Big congratulations to Helion, they're still my bet for first fusion produced electrons to the grid.

DogeDesigner

@cb_doge

Sam Altman says he has no shares in OpenAI and is not doing it for money. But he is making billions through stakes in companies that are doing direct business with OpenAI. He has pushed OpenAI to do business with those companies and made billions for himself. • Helion Energy: Altman was on their board. He pushed OpenAI to buy power from them and tried to get OpenAI to invest $500 million in Helion. He quit the board, then his shares jumped to over $4 billion. • Stripe: OpenAI made a direct deal to use Stripe for payments and AI tools. Altman owns a big part of Stripe. • Retro Biosciences: OpenAI has a direct business deal with this company. Altman owns a big part of it. • Cerebras: OpenAI talked about big chip deals with this company. Altman owns part of it. • Humane: Their Ai Pin device runs on OpenAI technology. Altman owns part of Humane. • Degree (Lattice): OpenAI has a direct business deal with this company. Altman owns part of it. • Formation Bio: OpenAI has a direct business deal with this AI pharma company. Altman owns part of it. • Software Applications: Listed among Altman-backed companies that had dealings with OpenAI. • Rain AI: OpenAI reportedly signed a $51M letter of intent to buy AI chips from Rain AI, a startup personally backed by Altman. • Reddit: OpenAI made a content deal with Reddit. Altman previously held a major Reddit stake, though Reuters says he sold it by the end of 2025. While OpenAI reportedly lost around $8.5 billion in just one quarter, Altman’s side investments kept gaining billions from the same ecosystem.

Rich Matus

Director, Supply Chain

Previously at Benchmark · Mesa, Arizona, United States

Joined Jun 2026

Skippy Shaw

Director of WA Government Affairs

Previously at The Nature Conservancy · Bellingham, Washington, United States

Joined May 2026

Previously at SpaceX · Seattle, Washington, United States

Joined Jun 2026

Previously at Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. · Seattle, Washington, United States

Joined May 2026