March 18-19, leaders across the fusion ecosystem gathered to address a pivotal question: how do we move fusion from breakthrough experiments to commercial power plants? Across keynotes, panels, and side conversations, one clear theme emerged:
Fusion will only scale if the industry builds robust, domestic supply chains and the pulsed-power infrastructure to support them.
Peak Nano's NanoPlex films and our commitment to U.S.-anchored manufacturing position us at the center of this transition. This post highlights key takeaways from the conference and what they signal about Peak Nano’s role as a supplier and enabler of commercial fusion energy.
Fusion is no longer a science project. It’s becoming an industrial program.
Recent milestones, including ignition at the National Ignition Facility, have shifted the conversation from if fusion will work to how quickly it can be deployed. Government initiatives, increased private investment, and coordinated roadmaps are now focused squarely on commercialization. Leading developers are building factories, deploying digital tools like AI-driven modeling and digital twins, and preparing for repeatable plant construction. Fusion systems are evolving into highly engineered industrial assets that demand reliable, high-performance components and precise control.
Success is no longer defined by physics breakthroughs alone. It now depends on execution: standardization, regulation, supply chains, and project delivery at scale.
As fusion moves into this industrial phase, developers need high-performance, domestically secure pulsed-power components. That is precisely where NanoPlex™ and Peak Nano's supply chain strategy provide value.
While technical progress remains important, the most urgent challenges discussed at the conference were operational. Industry leaders highlighted several critical gaps:
Workforce constraints. The fusion industry must expand beyond scientists and engineers to include skilled trades: machinists, welders, electricians, and technicians. This will require partnerships with trade schools, community colleges, and regional training hubs.
Supply chain immaturity. Suppliers need earlier visibility into developer roadmaps to justify investments in facilities, tooling, and qualification processes. Over the next five years, the industry must establish:
Standardized components and testing
Domestic manufacturing capacity for critical parts
Closer integration between suppliers and fusion developers
Need for policy and capital support. Public-private partnerships and long-term procurement signals are essential to de-risk supplier investment and accelerate scale.
This focus on supply chains is not limited to the U.S. International programs, particularly in the UK, are investing heavily not just in fusion science, but in building competitive manufacturing ecosystems alongside fusion science.
Across regions, the conclusion is the same: Fusion will scale only as fast as its supply chain and workforce.
Fusion energy places extraordinary demands on materials, particularly in pulsed-power systems that store and release massive amounts of energy in microseconds. Conventional dielectric films, originally developed for general industrial or grid applications, weren’t designed for these conditions.
NanoPlex™ changes that. Unlike conventional dielectric materials, NanoPlex films are engineered at the nanoscale to deliver:
Higher energy density without breakdown
Rapid charge/discharge cycling with minimal degradation
Improved thermal and mechanical strength for high repetition rates
Tailored performance under extreme pulse conditions
This makes them particularly well-suited for:
Laser fusion systems, where capacitors must deliver extremely fast, high-energy pulses. NanoPlex HDC delivers a dielectric constant of 3.8 to 4.9, compared to approximately 2.2 for conventional biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP). This enables up to 4x higher energy density, translating into capacitor banks that are up to 2x smaller in footprint with improved shot life. Smaller assemblies and longer service life drive BOM cost reductions of 60% or more compared to BOPP-based designs.
Magnetic fusion systems, which require stable, repeatable pulsed-power delivery at high frequency, high temperatures, and over sustained duty cycles. NanoPlex LDF has a dissipation factor of 0.028% at 25° C (maintained below 0.04% up to 150° C per ASTM D150) and maintains full performance at 135° C with no derating. LDF capacitors support faster charge and discharge cycles, less than 1% shrinkage at 130° C, and 3-5x longer service life compared to equivalent BOPP-based capacitors. Over a 30-year plant lifetime, that translates to an estimated $3 billion in power cost savings versus BOPP.
Through enhanced dielectric performance, NanoPlex™ enables smaller, more efficient energy systems. This can materially impact plant design, cost, and scalability for fusion developers.
The supply chain gaps discussed at the conference are exactly what drove Peak Nano's partnership with E&P Technologies. E&P is a U.S.-based firm specializing in pulsed power systems and high-reliability capacitors, with direct program experience from Xcimer Energy and Blue Origin. Together, we are developing fusion-grade, high-energy-density capacitors built entirely within a U.S. and allied-nation supply chain, purpose-built for fusion's demands, not adapted from legacy materials.
E&P Technologies selected NanoPlex HDC as the film foundation for a new class of capacitors designed for Impedance-Matched Marx Generator (IMG) fusion platforms, which depend on thousands of capacitors operating above 100 kV at high-cycle rates. More than 70% of conventional capacitor film is currently sourced from China, which is a vulnerability that fusion programs tied to national labs or DOE funding can no longer absorb. This partnership closes that gap by pairing NanoPlex HDC's pulse performance with E&P's manufacturing and qualification expertise in a single, integrated U.S. supply chain.
The collaboration is a direct example of what the conference called for: earlier supplier integration, domestic manufacturing depth, and components that are qualified and ready to scale.
In a field where designs are still evolving, the ability to iterate quickly is a major competitive advantage.
Traditional dielectric development requires new polymer synthesis, significant capital expenditure, and multi-year qualification cycles. Peak Nano’s Films as a Service platform accelerates the production of precision nanolayer film structures that leverage existing polymers in novel, nanolayered configurations. This enables rapid formulation changes and custom tuning for specific fusion architectures. We can now deliver solution prototypes in 6 to 10 weeks while providing testing, optimization, and technical transfer to create a structured path from lab concept to commercial scale.
Equally important, NanoPlex™ is built with scale in mind. It is:
This ensures performance gains can be translated into deployable hardware at scale.
By building both product families around a 100% U.S. and allied-nation supply chain with scalable U.S. manufacturing, we’re also helping reduce reliance on fragile or geopolitically sensitive supply chains, an issue repeatedly highlighted throughout the conference.
Together, these capabilities place Peak Nano directly in the path of fusion commercialization.
The conference made clear that fusion’s success will depend on more than fusion machines. It will depend on the ecosystem that supports them.
Peak Nano’s role within that ecosystem involves four key contributions:
Enabling fusion-grade pulsed power. Fusion plants require components that can withstand extreme conditions. NanoPlex HDC and LDF are purpose-built for the extreme conditions of laser and magnetic fusion systems and are already being integrated into next-generation capacitor designs through E&P Technologies.
Building resilient supply chains. Domestic and allied sourcing is becoming a strategic requirement. With 100% U.S. and allied-nation sourcing across the full materials stack, we’re actively reducing reliance on vulnerable supply chains.
Accelerating innovation cycles. In a rapidly evolving industry, speed matters. NanoPlex's re-engineering approach compresses material and component iteration from multi-year cycles to months.
Operating through partnerships. Progress in fusion is inherently collaborative. Our work with E&P Technologies, along with reference design capacitors validated with General Atomic, Eaton, ETI, and Excella, reflects where the industry is headed… progress through strong, integrated partnerships.
During the member session, Peak Nano CMO Shaun Walsh connected fusion industry priorities to our technology strategy, showing how Peak Nano accelerates fusion development while strengthening U.S. supply chains. He emphasized how supply chain design isn’t separate from product design; it’s integral. Through NanoPlex films designed for fusion-level performance, rapid experimentation, and commercial scale, along with domestic and allied sourcing, Peak Nano is advancing both performance and energy security.
Ultimately, commercialization depends on cost. Faster development cycles, scalable manufacturing, and secure supply chains are all critical to achieving economically viable fusion power.
Fusion energy is moving rapidly toward commercial reality. The transition from prototype to scalable deployment depends on supply chains, workforce development, and next-generation manufacturable hardware.
Peak Nano was built for this moment. NanoPlex HDC and LDF address the distinct pulsed-power demands of laser and magnetic fusion systems. Our allied-nation supply chain eliminates a vulnerability the industry can no longer afford to ignore, and we’re dramatically compressing film development and iteration timelines.
As developers advance toward first-of-a-kind plants and utilities seek reliable, carbon-free baseload power, Peak Nano is positioned to be more than a materials supplier. We are a core enabler of fusion energy, delivering the performance, resilience, and speed this new energy era demands.
*To learn more about NanoPlex HDC or LDF for your fusion application, contact sales@peaknano.com.*