Nuclear fusion energy is attracting unprecedented investment from traditional energy corporations, marking a significant shift in the technology’s development trajectory. Global private investment in the fusion sector reached $4.48 billion in 2025, representing a 69% increase from the prior year. Major oil and gas companies are moving beyond passive financial support of fusion startups to develop comprehensive commercial strategies around the emerging technology.
Italian energy company Eni has emerged as a particularly active player, committing to deploy a commercial fusion power plant in Europe by the early 2040s or sooner. The company has invested over $1 billion in Commonwealth Fusion Systems and signed agreements to purchase electricity from the startup’s first commercial U.S. facility. Beyond power generation, Eni is leveraging its decades of experience in hydrocarbon and hydrogen processing to establish a business focused on fuel systems for fusion reactors.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has secured $4 billion in total funding, with an additional $1 billion raised in July. The company’s planned 400-MW ARC facility in Virginia submitted an interconnection application with PJM earlier this year, while Google committed to purchasing 200 MW of its output. Multiple energy majors have established positions across competing fusion technologies. Equinor invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems beginning in 2020, while Chevron has diversified its portfolio by backing both TAE Technologies and Zap Energy. Shell Ventures participated in Zap Energy’s Series D funding round in 2024, and Cenovus has supported Canada-based General Fusion since 2011.
A critical component of commercial fusion viability involves fuel supply chains. Fusion reactors require deuterium and tritium, hydrogen isotopes with vastly different availability profiles. While deuterium can be extracted from seawater in sufficient quantities, tritium exists naturally in minimal amounts and requires continuous production and recycling within reactor systems. Eni is developing specialized tritium fuel-cycle facilities in partnership with the UK Atomic Energy Authority, with a large-scale testing facility scheduled for completion in 2028. This infrastructure positions the energy company to supply fuel services to the emerging commercial fusion industry globally.
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