Trump Media & Technology Group, the struggling company that owns the US president’s Truth Social platform, has announced a $US6 billion ($9 billion) merger with fusion power company TAE Technologies, in an unexpected pivot into energy technology.<\/p>\n
The all-stock transaction will see shareholders of each company hold approximately 50 per cent of the combined entity, which plans to begin construction of what it calls the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant in 2026.<\/p>\n
Trump Media’s share price has slumped by about 70 per cent in the past year but was up nearly 25 per cent after the announcement.<\/p>\n
Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican legislator, said the deal represents “a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Trump administration is talking up the possibility fusion could satisfy the massive energy demands of AI. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)<\/p>\n
Fusion power plants would generate electricity through the same process that powers the Sun, a goal long pursued by researchers, though no commercially viable project has yet been built despite decades of research.<\/p>\n
The unusual tie-up comes as the Trump administration pushes power-hungry AI technology that will require a massive build-out of energy sources.<\/p>\n
AI data centres are posing an increasing burden on US power grids, and the White House is encouraging the fast-tracking of energy projects to meet demand.<\/p>\n
Trump Media generates only $US1.7m in revenue<\/p>\n
TAE Technologies, founded in 1998, says its fusion technology could provide abundant electricity to power AI infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The California-based company has built five fusion reactors and employs over 400 people, including 62 Ph.D. holders, a statement said.<\/p>\n
The company has raised more than $US1.3 billion from investors including Google, Chevron and Goldman Sachs. Trump Media has agreed to provide up to $US300 million in cash to TAE.<\/p>\n
Trump Media has launched several projects in recent months, including cryptocurrency-related financial products and a video streaming platform, but generated only $US1.7 million in revenue in the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n
Mr Nunes and TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer will serve as co-CEOs of the combined company, while Michael Schwab of Big Sky Partners is expected to chair a nine-member board that will include Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son.<\/p>\n
The transaction requires shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close by mid-2026.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trump Media & Technology Group, the struggling company that owns the US president’s Truth Social platform, has announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[256,254,64,63,99,2490,114152,133673,55408,195213,105,195212],"class_list":["post-356512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-fusion","tag-fusion-power","tag-power-grid","tag-tae-technologies","tag-technology","tag-trump-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}