What it takes to build a fusion power company (w/ Bob Mumgaard) | Rapid Response
About Bob
- Co-founder & CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, leading U.S. fusion energy company.
- Raised over $3 billion for CFS from top-tier investors as of 2026.
- Led development of breakthrough high-temperature superconductor magnet technology.
- PhD from MIT with key contributions to superconducting tokamak design.
- Partnered with Google DeepMind to accelerate fusion progress through AI.
| 23:52
The promise of fusion is enormous: clean, reliable energy at a scale that could change everything from climate outcomes to global prosperity. But how close are we? And what’s still standing between today’s breakthroughs and tomorrow’s power plants? Bob Mumgaard, co-founder and CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, joins Rapid Response to explain why fusion is different from fission, what recent advances have unlocked, and what the race to industrialize fusion will require. And with Trump Media making an unexpected recent entry into the fusion arena, the push toward a tipping point is getting even more urgent.
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