It’s a real leap of faith. Microsoft has announced that it has reached an agreement with the company Helion Energy with the aim of buying, starting in 2028, electricity from nuclear fusion, a futuristic and extremely promising technology. This technology consists of fusing atoms at extreme temperatures (100 million degrees) to produce virtually unlimited energy without waste.
Microsoft’s crazy bet
Nuclear fusion is still only in the experimental stage, most experts believe it will still take decades of work. But Helion Energy plans, thanks to its technology, to produce electricity with this process from 2028. A particularly ambitious bet, even crazy.
Despite everything, Microsoft has chosen to take on the challenge by ordering 50 megawatts of electricity with the desire to gradually increase power and finally reach 1 gigawatt. However, from a pragmatic point of view, Microsoft has negotiated penalties in case of delay. This agreement is, for the moment it seems, unique in the world.
Sam Altman at the helm
Helion Energy is one of many players around the world working on nuclear fusion. Founded in 2013, the company has managed to raise more than $500 million in recent years.
It must be said that the company has an asset since the president of its board of directors is none other than Sam Altman, the leader of OpenAI, the company that gave birth to ChatGPT.
Source: BFM TV
