The Department of Energy unveiled the final version of its Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap on Tuesday.
The Fusion Science and Technology Roadmap serves as a national strategy to place the development and commercialization of fusion energy on a fast track. The newest fusion strategy aligns DOE and private industry to bring together fusion energy, infrastructure and commercialization priorities into a national strategy to support fusion pilot and commercial fusion power plants in the mid 2030s.
DOE said this roadmap builds off of similar efforts released in October 2025. DOE said in a press release that the roadmap aligns with its Genesis Mission and will be implemented through its recently established Office of Fusion.
DOE said in the roadmap that the pathway “provides a potential future set of foundational infrastructure for a rapidly scaling, successful, world-leading U.S. fusion energy industry of the 2030s and 2040s.”
DOE said that progress will be enabled and accelerated by combining fusion and artificial intelligence (AI) research. Key points for the roadmap lay out a near-term schedule of 2-3 years, a mid-term of 3-5 years and long-term of 5-10 years to deliver these converged AI and fusion efforts.
The roadmap outlines the DOE pathway to provide fusion science and technology infrastructure and the AI-fusion digital convergence platform along a similar schedule that would support development of a fusion pilot plant in the 2030s, according to the document.
According to DOE, the roadmap forms a unified strategy for the domestic fusion industry built around three main points:
- Build critical infrastructure to close fusion materials and technology gaps.
- Innovate through advanced research, computing and artificial intelligence.
- Increase the domestic fusion complex through public-private partnerships, supply chain and workforce development.
DOE’s ability to support the roadmap’s milestones and timelines is contingent on future public-private partnerships and future Congressional appropriations, according to the release. The roadmap will not commit DOE to specific funding levels.
“Fusion energy has entered a new era defined by extraordinary scientific progress and public-private momentum,” said DOE Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil. “With this roadmap, we now have the clarity, coordination, and sustained commitment needed to turn the promise of fusion into a reality for the American people.”
Nuclear fusion is a source of clean energy that involves fusing light nuclei to create energy and helium, which could create massive amounts of energy.
In President Donald Trump’s DOE fiscal 2027 budget request, fusion energy sciences was proposed a budget of $755 million, $50 million less than the enacted fiscal 2026 budget. Fusion energy sciences is found under the DOE’s Office of Science budget, which saw an overall reduction in the fiscal 2027 White House budget request.
However, the House Appropriations Committee passed an Energy and Water Appropriations bill that had $8.53 billion for the Office of Science, which represents a $275 million increase from fiscal 2026 and $1.39 billion more than the President’s fiscal 2027 budget request.
Additionally, the president’s budget request looked to fund the Office of Fusion $10 million, which Congress axed in its passage of its House Energy and Water Appropriations bill.
Fusion energy has seen a recent uptick in investment in the United States as the country races against China to achieve commercial fusion first. In 2022, the DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California became the first lab to achieve fusion ignition.