HTS Magnet Manufacturing Grants
Thea Energy Has Received $20 Million to Cut Fusion Magnet Costs
Adam Harrie — July 28, 2026
Thea Energy received a $20 million ARPA-E award to help manufacture its modular high-temperature superconducting magnets, tackling one of fusion's biggest fusion magnet costs by standardizing its reactor's most expensive components. Unlike traditional designs that require costly, uniquely shaped magnets, Thea's approach uses just four templates for its 12 large magnets and identical units for the more than 300 smaller magnets, which are software-controlled and arrayed around the reactor's periphery.
The standardized design allows for more forgiving construction tolerances, helping reduce manufacturing complexity and costs. The grant builds on Thea's momentum as one of the world's top-funded fusion startups. The company raised $100 million in May, following a $20 million Series A in 2024, and plans to build a commercial-scale power plant by the mid-2030s.
Thea Energy shows how overcoming manufacturing and component-cost barriers, rather than focusing on plasma physics alone, could prove decisive in bringing commercial fusion power to market.
