General Fusion squeezes plasma to 8.4M°C on LM26, then lists via SPAC

General Fusion builds magnetized target fusion machines: pistons mechanically compress a plasma inside a liquid-lithium liner to reach fusion conditions, aiming for practical, low-cost power plants.

That mechanically compressing plasma with a lithium liner can reach fusion conditions using existing materials — no superconducting magnets or giant lasers.

More than C$440M raised by August 2024 (~75% private, incl. Jeff Bezos); ~US$150M cash at its July 2026 SPAC close

Founded in Vancouver in 2002, General Fusion spent two decades funding MTF research with private investors (including Jeff Bezos) and Canadian government agencies. The late-2022 National Ignition Facility gain demonstration reset the fusion market, and in 2023 the company launched LM26, a large-scale MTF machine it designed, built and began operating in under two years.

LM26 was assembled in December 2024, achieved first plasma in February 2025, and first plasma compression in April 2025. In June 2026 General Fusion reported compressional heating to ~8.4 million °C (0.72 keV) — a more-than-3x electron-temperature rise — documented in a peer-reviewed paper on the first 11 compression shots. In July 2026 it closed a SPAC merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III, entering Nasdaq as GFUZ with ~US$150M in cash, the first publicly listed fusion company.

Still running and now public: LM26 continues toward its next milestone of 1 keV (10 million °C), then 10 keV, with the SPAC cash meant to carry the program through key milestones by 2028.

MTF sidesteps the two most expensive fusion paths — superconducting magnets and giant lasers — so the company could build a large machine on a fraction of rivals' capital.

LM26 is purpose-built at 50% commercial scale, so each milestone (first plasma, compression, heating) is a directly scalable result rather than a lab curiosity.

The June 2026 peer-reviewed results gave the SPAC story real evidence: 3x temperature, 10x density and 10x magnetic field during mechanical compression.

The bet is still open: 0.72 keV is far from the 1 keV then 10 keV milestones, and net energy has not been shown.

Picking a physically awkward but cheap path — mechanical compression — bought decades of survival; a demo machine at half scale, not a full reactor, finally convinced public-market money to arrive.

As of September 2026 General Fusion trades on Nasdaq as GFUZ with roughly US$150M in cash — the first listed fusion company — and is optimizing LM26 toward its 1 keV electron-temperature milestone, with funding planned through 2028. It still needs 1 keV, then 10 keV, then the Lawson criterion before a commercial plant around the mid-2030s.