ARPA-E Commits $135 Million to Fusion — Agency's Largest Fusion Investment

On April 8, 2026, ARPA-E Director Conner Prochaska announced a $135 million commitment to fusion technology development during plenary remarks at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit (April 7–9, 2026) in National Harbor, Maryland. The commitment is the largest single fusion investment in the agency's 17-year history and will be deployed over 18 months across multiple programs targeting technical barriers to commercial fusion, including plasma confinement, materials science, and tritium breeding. The announcement signals continued strong federal support for fusion alongside private sector momentum, with the investment complementing DOE's Office of Fusion Energy Sciences FY2025 budget of $790 million. ARPA-E described fusion as both a clean energy and national security priority, noting that US federal investment in fusion reached a historic high of over $1.4 billion total in FY2025.