Investor Perspectives on the DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program

This talk provides investor perspectives on the DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program and on the evolution of private fusion investments since the Milestone Program was first launched in 2022. However, these perspectives should not be construed as exhaustive or representative of the entire fusion-investor community. The first part of the talk describes positive and negative attributes of the program from the perspective of investors. Positive attributes include signaling of policy support from the U.S. Government, alignment with the private sector in aspirational timelines, technical validation of companies and their development paths, milestone rigor and alignment, and non-dilutive funding. Negative attributes include extremely low levels of federal funding (i.e., <1/10 of company expenditures) relative to the program's strategic importance, as well as inappropriate legal and administrative complexities and burdens. The second part of the talk presents a vision for a successful Milestone Program that will enable multiple companies to secure U.S. leadership in realizing demonstration commercial power plants in the 2030s, and a call to action to the plasma and fusion sciences community to help realize this vision.