External rendering of Norman, TAE Technologies' fifth-gen fusion device. Image courtesy TAE Technologies. TAE Technologies, a California-based private company developing technology to generate power from nuclear fusion, has raised $280m from new and existing investors, including Google.

The company also announced what it called a landmark fusion technology milestone by producing stable plasma at more than 50 million degrees Celsius – nearly twice as hot as the sun – in a compact reactor design that can scale to competitive fusion-generated power.

“This milestone furthers confidence in TAE’s path to commercialisation and has aided the company in raising the $280m in additional funding,” a statement said.

The new capital will mostly be deployed towards further fusion work and a new reactor scale facility, the statement said.

A portion of the capital will be used to begin development of a demonstration facility called Copernicus that will operate well in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius to simulate net energy production from the conventional deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel cycle.

Copernicus will provide opportunities for TAE to licence its technology for D-T fusion, while working towards its ultimate goal of delivering energy from the hydrogen-boron fuel cycle.