A fusion startup just achieved what only a handful of companies have managed: nuclear fusion breakthrough territory.
Avalanche Energy told TechCrunch exclusively that its desktop-scale fusion prototype has heated plasma to roughly 11 million degrees Celsius — nearly matching the temperature at the center of the Sun. Only a handful of companies have hit this milestone, and Avalanche did it on a shoestring budget.
The startup spent less than $50 million in venture funding to get there. Most fusion competitors spent significantly more chasing the same achievement.
Plasma physicists use a metric called kiloelectron volts (kEV) to measure temperature instead of a basic thermometer. The fusion world considers 1 kEV the magic threshold where "the world will take notice," according to Commonwealth Fusion Systems CEO Bob Mumgaard.
If plasma gets hot enough and dense enough for long enough, fusion reactions occur, releasing massive amounts of energy. The goal is to produce more power than you put in.
Avalanche's approach differs radically from its competitors. While most fusion startups are designing massive reactors capable of generating dozens or hundreds of megawatts, Avalanche went small. Their reactor core, called Jyn, is only five inches in diameter. They've updated the device 25 times since last fall alone.
Smaller devices are easier to iterate, which explains why Avalanche can move quickly. The company hasn't published peer-reviewed results yet, but a plasma physicist at MIT validated their findings.
The milestone doesn't guarantee success — fusion has been "just around the corner" for decades. But Avalanche's approach suggests that smaller, cheaper fusion power plants could compete with diesel generators and natural gas turbines in practice. That is a genuine shift in the field.
