Trump Media & Technology is merging with fusion energy company TAE Technologies in a deal worth more than $6 billion, aiming to harness the fledgling technology to power energy-hungry artificial intelligence data centers.
The merger comes amid a difficult year for Trump Media shares, which trade under the ticker DJT — the same as Mr. Trump’s initials. Through Wednesday, the stock was down 69% for the year, even as the S&P 500 had gained 14%.
After the merger was announced Thursday morning, Trump Media shares jumped $3.37, or 32%, to $13.84.
Trump Media’s strategic shift
For Trump Media, the merger represents another strategic shift, given its 2021 launch as a business focusing on the conservative-leaning social media space.
More recently, the company has pivoted beyond its roots as a tech business. Earlier this year, Trump Media struck a deal to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin, creating a reserve of the cryptocurrency, and it has also rolled out investment funds with “America-first” strategies.
The merger with TAE represents a continuation of Trump Media’s “America first” principles, former California lawmaker Devin Nunes, now chief executive of Trump Media, said in a Thursday conference call with investors.
“Fusion power will lower energy prices, bolster our national defense and secure the energy needed to guarantee America’s dominance of AI technology,” Nunes said on the call.
He added, “This combination positions the combined company to help lead the global AI revolution and kickstart an American energy renaissance.”
After the merger closes next year, the company will “quickly seek approvals to site and build the company’s first utility-scale power plant,” Nunes said. “We expect siting to commence by year-end 2026, sending us on the path to build future plants expected to be 350 megawatt to 500 megawatt.”
AI power needs
With tech companies building AI data centers across the U.S., their need for power is “growing exponentially,” according to a report earlier this year from Deloitte. Power demand for AI data centers could grow more than thirtyfold by 2035, up to 123 gigawatts from 4 gigawatts last year, the consulting firm noted.
The combination represents “a major play on creating the first public nuclear fusion company in the U.S.,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a report. TAE’s investors include Google, Chevron and Goldman Sachs, he noted.
TAE has “safely built and operated five fusion reactors and importantly proven major energy and fusion breakthroughs over the years… putting TAE at the top of the mountain in the fusion global scene in our view,” Ives said.
Fusion power will prove to be “the most dramatic energy breakthrough since the onset of commercial nuclear energy in the 1950s,” Nunes said in a statement.