When the private fusion sector decided it needed its own voice — and organized the trade body that now tracks billions in venture capital flowing toward commercial reactors.
For most of its history, fusion energy was a government-funded endeavor pursued at national laboratories and universities. The idea that private companies might build commercial fusion reactors was, until recently, treated as science fiction by mainstream energy investors. But by the mid-2010s, a wave of venture-backed startups had changed the landscape. Companies like TAE Technologies (founded 1998), General Fusion (2002), Tokamak Energy (2009), Commonwealth Fusion Systems (2018), and Helion Energy (2013) were collectively attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in private capital. What they lacked was a collective identity and a coordinated voice in policy discussions dominated by ITER timelines and national laboratory budgets.1
The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) was formally established in 2018, with Andrew Holland as its first executive director. Holland, a veteran energy policy analyst who had previously worked at the American Security Project, recognized that the emerging private fusion sector needed what the solar, wind, and fission industries already had: a trade association that could advocate for supportive regulation, educate policymakers, and present a unified front to the public. The founding members included most of the major private fusion companies, and the FIA quickly established its headquarters in Washington, D.C., positioning itself at the center of U.S. energy policy.2
The FIA played a significant role in shaping the regulatory environment for fusion in the United States. In 2022, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission began a rulemaking process to establish a licensing framework specifically for fusion energy systems, distinct from the fission regulatory regime. The FIA advocated for a risk-informed, technology-neutral approach that would avoid burdening fusion plants with regulations designed for uranium fission reactors. The association also supported the fusion provisions in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and engaged with the Department of Energy’s milestone-based public-private partnership program announced in 2023.3
While the FIA began as a primarily American organization, its membership and influence quickly became international. Companies from the UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, Australia, and China joined, reflecting the global nature of the private fusion race. The FIA established relationships with counterpart organizations and government fusion programs worldwide, and its annual Global Fusion Industry reports became essential reading for anyone tracking the commercial fusion landscape.4
The founding of the FIA marked a psychological threshold as much as an organizational one. Fusion was no longer solely a government research program operating on 30-year timelines — it was an industry, with companies, investors, employees, and now a trade association to prove it.5