# Commonwealth Fusion Systems receives $85 million CHIPS Act award for radiation-hardened fusion semiconductors

The US Department of Commerce has taken an equity stake in the MIT spinout under the CHIPS and Science Act, funding domestic R&D of extreme-voltage silicon carbide power electronics and radio-frequency heating generators.

- Canonical: https://reviewblip.com/news/commonwealth-fusion-systems-receives-85-million-chips-act-award-for-radiation-hardened-fusion-semiconductors/
- Published: 2026-10-24T03:20:59.526Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:20:59.526Z
- Author: ReviewBlip
- Category: Clean Energy & Advanced Semiconductors
- Type: News

![Brandon Sorbom, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, discussing fusion technology and semiconductor infrastructure](https://reviewblip.com/editorial-images/d784b5a8964087fb8b0ed0896c0ed80a1e446f60d3a550a34b10f8e5ce2af4d1)

Image credit: TechCrunch / Kimberly White — editorial conference photography

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), the magnetic confinement fusion startup spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, announced on Friday that it has been awarded $85 million in federal funding from the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act. The capital grant, which also provides the federal government with a direct equity stake in the company, is earmarked specifically for domestic research, pilot manufacturing, and commercial scaling of specialized semiconductor architectures capable of surviving extreme magnetic, electrical, and radiological environments.

While fusion startups have focused intense public attention on erecting first-of-a-kind demonstration reactors—with CFS actively constructing its flagship Sparc tokamak in Devens, Massachusetts, targeting first plasma in 2027—commercializing fusion power at grid scale hinges on securing a resilient, high-volume supply chain for extreme power electronics. Generating and confining a 100-million-degree deuterium-tritium plasma requires pulsing gigawatts of electricity through high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnetic coils, generating electrical stresses and neutron fluxes that rapidly degrade standard commercial silicon.

The $85 million award funds five targeted technology initiatives led by CFS and domestic manufacturing partners. Chief among them is the development of next-generation silicon carbide (SiC) power switching electronics designed to switch tens of kilovolts with microsecond precision, outperforming existing components used in electric vehicles and grid inverters. The funding also finances the domestic fabrication of high-power radio-frequency (RF) generators used for ion cyclotron resonance heating, alongside radiation-hardened control microcontrollers capable of continuous telemetry inside the reactor hall without shielding failure.

“Building one demonstration machine proves the physics, but scaling a commercial fusion fleet requires an industrial-grade semiconductor foundation,” said Brandon Sorbom, co-founder and chief science officer at CFS. Department of Commerce officials noted that the award marks the first time CHIPS Act funding has been directed into fusion-specific power semiconductor supply chains, citing dual-use national benefits for national grid stability, defense radar systems, and extreme-environment aerospace computing.

## Sources
- [\[src-cfs-chips\] Commonwealth Fusion Systems gets $85M to build better fusion-ready semiconductors](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/23/commonwealth-fusion-systems-gets-85m-to-build-better-fusion-ready-semiconductors/)