Inside Pacific Fusion's $1B Bet on Mass-Manufacturable Fusion
Key points
Key takeaways from an exclusive visit to Pacific Fusion's San Leandro facility on The Sachin and Adam Show, with co-founders Carrie von Muench (COO) and Keith LeChien (CTO) (October 2026):
Modular pulsar design. The reactor fires 156 synchronised pulses of more than a terawatt each — the equivalent of lightning strikes — at a fusion target the size of a pencil eraser; each pulsar module is built from capacitors charged to 100,000V and filled with dielectric fluid, sized roughly like a shipping container.
Manufacturability first. Keith LeChien's stated bet is that fusion must be mass-manufacturable from widely available materials to scale; the modular system allows building components at small scale and copying them many times.
Milestone-gated funding. Pacific Fusion has raised over $1B, but capital unlocks only as milestones are hit — investors carry less risk, and the approach is uncommon for a deep-tech energy startup.
Albuquerque facility. The company broke ground on a $1B research and manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, targeting net facility gain by 2030 and a first power plant by the mid-2030s; a prototype pulser has already delivered 440GW in an 80-nanosecond burst.
Government partnership. In August 2026 the NNSA partnered with Pacific Fusion to explore high-yield fusion for laboratory experiments replacing above-ground weapons testing.
Geopolitical race. China has reportedly surpassed the US and the West combined in fusion investment over the past 18 months; Carrie von Muench argues staying ahead matters for energy independence and the knock-on technologies.
Backers. Investors include General Catalyst, Hemant Taneja, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eric Schmidt, Patrick Collison, Ken Griffin, John Doerr, Mustafa Suleyman, Elad Gil and others.
Read more: The Sachin and Adam Show · Pacific Fusion
