Milestones
- Microsoft power purchase agreement signedMay 2023Complete.
- Construction begins at Malaga siteJul 2025Complete.
- State radioactive-materials and air-emissions licences issuedJun 2026Complete.
- Generator building constructionTarget 2026Current milestone.
- Electricity delivered to MicrosoftTarget 2028Not yet reached.
Most important updates
- 16 Jun 2026
- 15 Oct 2025
- Jul 2025
- 10 May 2023
Upcoming
- 2026Generator building construction (next)
- 2028Electricity delivered to Microsoft
Current obstacles
- Building before the prototype proves net powerOrion is being built alongside Polaris, so any surprise at Polaris puts the 2028 date at risk.
Physics limits
- Helium-3 barely exists on EarthOnly a few kilograms a year are available, mostly from decaying tritium in weapons stockpiles, so a D-He3 plant must breed its own helium-3 from D-D fusion.
- D-D side reactions still make neutronsIn D-He3 fuel, deuterium also fuses with itself; about half of those reactions release a neutron and half make tritium, so walls are still irradiated, only less than with D-T.
- Losses compound on every energy round tripEnergy flows capacitors to magnets to plasma and back each pulse. Even a few per cent lost per transfer compounds, so fusion must add much more than the round trip loses.
How it works
A commercial-scale Polaris
Orion uses Helion's pulsed method: plasma rings are fired together, squeezed by magnets, and their push-back is captured as electricity.
Power from repetition
Each pulse yields one burst of energy; firing the generator rapidly and continuously turns single shots into steady 50 MW-class output.
No steam turbine
Recovered current recharges capacitor banks; power electronics convert the surplus to grid power, which Constellation sells to Microsoft.
Making its own helium-3
The plan is to fuse deuterium with deuterium to make helium-3, then burn D-He3, which releases most of its energy as charged particles.
Update log
Tue 16 Jun
- Major: RegulatorRegulatory
Wed 15 Oct 2025
- Major: PressRegulatory
Jul 2025
- Major: PressManufacturing
Wed 10 May 2023
- Major: PressCommercial
About Helion
Helion
Pulsed FRC fusion, Polaris, Orion plant for Microsoft
Washington state company building pulsed fusion machines that smash and squeeze plasma rings (FRCs), then pull electricity straight out with no steam turbine. It plans to power Microsoft from its Orion plant from 2028.
- Polaris, its seventh prototype, reported measurable D-T fusion at 150 million °C in February 2026.
- Building its Orion plant in Malaga, Washington; got state operating licences in June 2026.
- Signed the first fusion power deal (Microsoft, 50 MW from 2028) and a 500 MW plant deal with Nucor.
- Founded
- 201313 yrs
- Headquarters
- United States
- Status
- Private
- Valuation
- $5.4BprivateJan 2025
- Raised
- $925M2 rounds
- Last round
- Series F · $425MJan 2025$5.4B post
- Works in
- EnergyFusion
- Coverage
- 2 programs · 11 updateslatest 8 Sep 2026checked 25 Sep
- Lead investors
- Sam Altman
- Investors
- Sam Altman (opens en.wikipedia.org)
- People
- David Kirtley (opens helionenergy.com)Co-founder & CEO