美国政府与核聚变发电行业的关系长期以来时断时续。截至上周，这种关系已明确重回正轨。
The U.S. government has long had an on-again, off-again relationship with the fusion power sector. As of last week, it’s definitely back on.
根据《芯片与科学法案》——即2022年通过的为国内半导体发展提供资金的法律——Helion Energy公司和Commonwealth Fusion Systems公司（CFS）从商务部获得了总计2.6亿美元的奖励，用于开发为其反应堆供电和控制所用的先进半导体。Helion获得1.75亿美元，CFS获得8500万美元。
Helion and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) received awards totaling $260 million from the Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act, the 2022 law that funds domestic semiconductor development, to develop advanced semiconductors used to help power and control their reactors. Helion landed $175 million, while CFS reeled in $85 million.
但与近期许多政府奖励一样，这些奖励也附带条件。Helion和CFS同意作为回报向政府提供无表决权股份。通过这些奖励，核聚变行业终于获得了政府的关注，尽管这或许并非该行业所设想的那种形式。
But as with many recent government awards, these come with strings attached. Helion and CFS have agreed to give the government non-voting shares in return. With these awards, the fusion industry is finally getting the government’s attention, though maybe not the sort it envisioned.
过去，政府对初创企业的支持意味着非稀释性资本，即不会缩减现有投资者持股比例的资金，同时能让公司拥有更充裕的资金储备。投资者喜欢这类交易，因为这意味着他们的初创企业能在无需他们追加投资的情况下获得更多资金。政府发放这些资金是为了促进美国创新，尽管在大多数情况下，这也意味着当政府“押中宝”时，自身并不会直接获益。特朗普政府一直在推动改变这一核算逻辑。
In the past, government support for a startup meant non-dilutive capital, meaning money that doesn’t shrink existing investors’ ownership percentages, while giving the company a bigger war chest. Investors loved the deals because it meant their startups got more money without them having to pony up. The government doled out the cash to boost American innovation, though it also meant that, in most cases, the government didn’t directly benefit when it picked a winner. The Trump administration has been pushing to change that calculus.
对这两家公司而言，奖励总额与各自已筹集的资金相比微不足道。CFS已筹集约40亿美元，而Helion紧随其后，拥有32亿美元承诺资本。这些奖励或许更重要的意义在于发出信号：在多年削减核聚变资金、随后又零星拨付之后，美国政府重新回到了这场游戏中。
For both companies, the total dollar amount pales in comparison to how much each has raised. CFS has raised about $4 billion, while Helion is close behind with $3.2 billion in committed capital. The awards are perhaps more important as signals that, after years of cutting and then trickling out fusion funding, the U.S. government is back in the game.
核聚变通过像太阳那样将原子融合在一起来发电，是一项昂贵的事业，需要特种材料、复杂的计算机建模和复杂的制造工艺。过去十年的进展吸引了私人投资者，他们押注超过140亿美元，赌其中一家或多家公司能够将电厂接入电网。
Fusion. which generates power by fusing atoms together as the sun does, is an expensive endeavor, requiring exotic materials, sophisticated computer modeling, and complex manufacturing. Progress over the last decade has attracted private investors who have bet more than $14 billion that one or more companies will be able to put a power plant on the grid.
然而，据核聚变产业协会（该行业的贸易团体）称，这仍不足以在竞赛中击败其他国家。去年，该贸易团体呼吁联邦政府一次性向该领域注资100亿美元，其中54亿美元用于核聚变初创企业。
Yet according to the Fusion Industry Association, the sector’s trade group, that’s still not enough to beat other countries in the race. Last year, the trade group called on the federal government to inject a one-time infusion of $10 billion into the sector, with $5.4 billion intended for fusion startups.
“其他国家正在积极行动，加速其商业核聚变产业的发展，投入数十亿美元的国家支持力度，以赢得核聚变发电的竞赛，”CFS的一位发言人告诉《TechCrunch》。CFS是核聚变产业协会的成员。“这100亿美元的诉求旨在建设能源部核聚变路线图中的研究基础设施，并为美国国内核聚变产业与中国竞争提供催化作用。”直到最近，联邦政府一直在为核聚变零星地拨款。
“Other nations are moving aggressively to accelerate their commercial fusion industries, pouring billions in state-backed efforts to win the race to fusion power,” a spokesperson for CFS told TechCrunch. CFS is a member of the Fusion Industry Association. “The $10 billion ask is designed to build out the research infrastructure in the DOE’s Fusion Roadmap and be catalytic for the U.S. domestic fusion industry to compete with China.”Until recently, the federal government had been dribbling out dollars for fusion.
拜登政府推出了“基于里程碑的核聚变发展计划”，这是一个能源部项目，在公司达到技术目标时向其付款，但金额微薄；头几年分配的资金不足5000万美元。最近的拨款稍大一些，但仍远低于核聚变产业协会呼吁的金额。
The Biden administration introduced the Milestone Based Fusion Development Program, a Department of Energy program that pays companies as they hit technical goals, but the dollar amounts were paltry; less than $50 million was distributed in the first couple years. More recent awards were a little bigger, but still well shy of money the Fusion Industry Association has called for.
如今，随着两家公司获得2.6亿美元，游说似乎开始见效，尽管并不完全按计划进行：资金来自商务部，而非核聚变产业协会寻求的研究预算，且附带股权条件。
Now, with two companies getting $260 million, it looks like the lobbying may be starting to pay off, though not quite as planned as it comes from Commerce rather than the research budget the Fusion Industry Association sought, and it carries equity strings.
据知情人士透露，核聚变产业协会的游说活动并未涉及以股权换取奖励的谈判。然而，Helion 表示，政府将根据其 G 轮融资估值获得 1.75 亿美元的无表决权股权，该轮融资对公司的估值为 155 亿美元。这相当于约 1% 的股份。政府在 CFS 的股份同样为无表决权，并将基于该公司最近的估值，但 CFS 尚未公开披露该估值。因此，政府在 CFS 的持股比例目前不得而知。
The Fusion Industry Association’s lobbying campaign did not include conversations about equity stakes in exchange for awards, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Yet Helion said the government will receive $175 million in non-voting equity based on its Series G round, which valued the company at $15.5 billion. That works out to a stake of roughly 1%. The government’s stake in CFS will also be non-voting and based on the company’s most recent valuation, which CFS has not shared publicly. That means the size of the government’s stake in CFS is not known.
Helion 联合创始人兼首席执行官 David Kirtley 在给 TechCrunch 的声明中表示：“这种结构近年来在美国政府的大额投资中变得更为常见。这种做法将 Helion 与美国纳税人的利益围绕我们的商业成功结合在了一起。”
“This type of structure has become more common in large U.S. government investments in recent years,” David Kirtley, co-founder and CEO of Helion, told TechCrunch in a statement. “This approach aligns the interests of Helion and the U.S. taxpayer around our commercial success.”The CFS spokesperson echoed those comments.
CFS 发言人也表达了类似观点：“美国政府的这笔股权投资将使美国纳税人能够分享我们商业成功带来的收益，作为对投资重要研发、支持美国商业核聚变产业发展的回报。” Helion 和 CFS 是近期一系列获得联邦资金并让政府入股的公司中的最新案例。
“This U.S. equity stake will enable the U.S. taxpayer to participate in the upside of our commercial success in exchange for investing in important research and development that supports the growth of an American commercial fusion industry.”Helion and CFS are the latest in a series of companies that have seen the government take a stake in exchange for federal dollars.
去年，关键矿产供应商 MP Materials 以 15% 的股份换取了政府 4 亿美元的投资，外加 1.5 亿美元贷款、购销协议（即对其产量的担保采购）以及利润分成。另一家关键矿产公司 USA Rare Earth 则放弃了 10% 的股份，换取 2.77 亿美元的奖励资金和 13 亿美元的贷款。英特尔则树立了一个更为尴尬的先例。拜登政府此前已向该公司承诺 89 亿美元的资助，但尚未拨付。去年，特朗普政府将这笔资金转为英特尔约 10% 的股份。此类案例还在继续增加。
Last year, critical minerals supplier MP Materials gave the government a 15% stake in exchange for a $400 million investment coupled with a $150 million loan, offtake agreements (which are guaranteed purchases of its output), and profit sharing. Another critical minerals company, USA Rare Earth, gave up a 10% stake for a $277 million award and a $1.3 billion loan. And Intel set an even more awkward precedent. The Biden administration had already awarded the company $8.9 billion that hadn’t yet been paid out. Last year, the Trump administration turned that money into a roughly 10% stake in Intel. The list goes on.
总部位于德国的核聚变初创公司 Proxima Fusion 向 TechCrunch 证实，德国政府和欧盟已进入其股权结构表。该公司还获得了德国政府支持的基金的股权投资，包括 SPRIND（德国联邦颠覆性创新署）和 DCTF（德国气候技术基金）。
Outside the U.S., Germany-based fusion startup Proxima Fusion confirmed to TechCrunch that the German government and the European Union are on its cap table. It also has received equity investments from German government-backed funds including SPRIND (Germany’s federal agency for disruptive innovation) and DCTF (Deutsche Climate Tech Fonds).
并非所有与政府合作的核聚变初创公司都放弃了股权。Thea Energy 和 Avalanche Energy 获得了联邦奖励和合同，Pacific Fusion 与联邦实验室建立了合作伙伴关系，这三家公司均向 TechCrunch 确认，它们没有给政府让股。Inertia Enterprises 也告诉 TechCrunch，它没有给政府任何股权；该初创公司与劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室建立了公私合作伙伴关系，旨在商业化该实验室开发的核聚变技术。
Not every fusion startup that has worked with the government has given up equity. Thea Energy and Avalanche Energy, which have received federal awards and contracts, and Pacific Fusion, which has partnered with federal labs, confirmed to TechCrunch that they have not given the government a stake. Inertia Enterprises also told TechCrunch that it had not given the government any equity; the startup has a public-private partnership with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to commercialize the fusion technology developed there.
到目前为止，只有少数初创公司同意以换取奖励为由给政府让股。尽管如此，这可能会为行业定下基调。
So far, it’s just a handful of startups that have agreed to government stakes in exchange for awards. Still, it could set the tone for the industry.
通过直接投资核聚变初创公司，特朗普政府发出信号，表明核聚变发电是美国的战略优先事项。这种支持可能会增强投资者信心，但也同样可能对私人投资产生寒蝉效应。风投机构现在必须权衡，政府持股带来的股份稀释是否值得这种权衡。如果出现“付费参与”融资轮或公司清算，股权结构表会怎样？谁享有优先权？
By directly investing in fusion startups, the Trump administration is signaling that fusion power is a strategic priority for the U.S. Such backing could boost investor confidence, though it could just as easily have a chilling effect on private investment. VCs will now have to weigh whether the dilution from a government stake is worth the tradeoff. And what happens to cap tables in case of pay-to-play rounds or wind-downs? Who gets priority?
核聚变行业近年来可能已筹集了数十亿美元，但要兑现承诺，还需要数十亿甚至更多资金。联邦奖励过去在扩大规模时是“不用多想”的选择。现在，它们变得更加复杂。这些新交易是否值得？
The fusion industry may have raised billions of dollars in recent years, but it will need billions more to deliver on its promises. Federal awards used to be no brainers when it came time to scale up. Now, they’ve grown more complicated. Will the new bargains be worth it?