The U.S. government is preparing to invest $175 million in Helion, a nuclear fusion energy company backed by Josh Kushner, brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with tech billionaire Peter Thiel and OpenAI founder Sam Altman. The funding will come from research and development money administered by the Department of Commerce under the CHIPS Act and will secure the government an equivalent non-voting equity stake in Helion.

This marks the largest single-company investment in the fusion energy sector by the Commerce Department to date and reflects the Trump administration’s ongoing interventionist policy toward supporting key technology firms to maintain U.S. competitiveness internationally. Numerous companies receiving government backing also have connections to investment groups closely linked to the current administration.

Helion, based in Everett, Washington, is developing fusion technology that seeks to replicate the process powering the Sun by fusing atomic nuclei in a superheated plasma to generate energy. Unlike traditional nuclear power, which relies on splitting atoms and produces radioactive waste, fusion has the potential to deliver vast amounts of clean energy without such byproducts. However, commercial fusion remains unproven, requiring extremely high temperatures and advanced containment technologies that have yet to achieve sustained electricity generation.

Despite substantial private and public investment in the fusion sector, the technology remains experimental. Industry insiders caution that many startups may not meet their ambitious timelines, with some likely to fail before realizing commercial fusion power. The history of fusion research includes high-profile setbacks, such as a premature British claim of a breakthrough in 1958 and the ITER project in France, which has faced massive cost overruns and delays with key experiments now scheduled for 2039.

Adam Stein, director of Nuclear Energy and Innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, noted that while government support has driven progress, the industry still requires multiple “eureka moments” to make fusion commercially viable.

Helion plans to use the new funds, part of a larger $389 million award announced recently, to advance the development and production of high-voltage semiconductors and power modules critical for fusion reactors. The company aims to build the world’s first commercial fusion power plant and was valued at $15.5 billion earlier this year after raising $465 million in a funding round led by Kushner’s Thrive Capital. Thrive Capital did not respond to requests for comment.