Pacific Fusion plans to build a $1 billion research facility on a desert stretch of Albuquerque to recreate nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun and stars, Bloomberg reports. The project has strong backing from the New Mexico State Investment Council, which manages billions of dollars from oil and gas revenue; officials encouraged the startup and signaled that financing could be mobilized if private capital proved insufficient.
The push is part of a broader strategy to revive returns from the state’s private equity investments. Officials replaced a long-running economic development initiative with a venture capital program aimed at companies that can grow within New Mexico. Since 2022, the council has committed about $1.8 billion to dozens of venture funds focused on the state, roughly 1 of every 5 private equity dollars. “We want the financial returns as well as economic impact,” said Chris Cassidy, the council’s director of private equity and venture, Bloomberg reported.
The state is leaning toward industries where it believes it has an edge, including aerospace and defense, drawing on Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories and Spaceport America. Defense startup Castelion, founded by former SpaceX engineers, recently started a manufacturing site in Sandoval County to produce hypersonic missiles, which the company says could create at least 300 jobs.
Fusion may be the state’s most ambitious gamble. Although Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory demonstrated fusion ignition in 2022, practical application remains a major challenge. “Nobody really knows what it’s going to cost,” said Steve Koonin, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Bloomberg reported. Bruce Brown, who leads strategic climate initiatives for the state investment fund, called it an unimaginably good opportunity for New Mexico.
About This Story
Daily Reports is Brant.One’s news roundup. Each day we gather the New Mexico stories worth knowing from newsrooms across the state, sum them up and point you to the source. This one comes from Bloomberg’s reporting, and their original story has the interviews and full details.
Editor’s note: Updated Oct. 31, 2026. This story is now part of Daily Reports, our New Mexico news roundup, and was revised to credit Bloomberg’s original reporting. Learn how Daily Reports works in our editorial standards.
