AI Energy Demand Is Fueling a High-Stakes Bet on Nuclear Fusion

Meeting the runaway energy demand of the artificial intelligence boom will require energy buildout and innovation at an unprecedented scale. After decades of plateaued energy growth in the United States, the breakneck expansion of energy-hungry data centers across the nation is pushing the public and private sectors to invest in new energy production and extending the life of existing power plants – and it still won’t be enough. "There's no way to get there without a breakthrough," Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of ChatGPT firm…