Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Nvidia, and Siemens Partner to Develop AI-Powered Digital Twin for SPARC Fusion Reactor
January 06, 2026
In a significant move to accelerate the commercialization of fusion energy, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has announced strategic partnerships with technology leaders Nvidia and Siemens. The collaboration aims to build a comprehensive, AI-powered digital twin of CFS's SPARC tokamak, a compact fusion device designed to demonstrate net energy gain. The announcement was made at CES, where CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard joined executives from the partner companies. The digital twin will integrate Siemens' industrial software suite, including its NX Designcenter and Teamcenter product lifecycle management tools, with Nvidia's Omniverse platform and OpenUSD framework. This system will create a virtual, real-time replica of the physical SPARC reactor, which is under construction at CFS's headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts. CFS will feed engineering, manufacturing, and operational data from Siemens' Xcelerator portfolio into its modeling workflows. By combining this data with classical physics simulations and AI models on Nvidia's platform, the digital twin is designed to run continuously alongside the operational reactor. This approach allows engineers to simulate scenarios, test hypotheses, and rapidly compare experimental results with predictions. CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard stated that the technology "allows us to compress years of manual experimentation into weeks of understanding how these machines work." The initiative represents a substantial application of industrial AI and digital engineering. Unlike traditional simulations used only in design, this active digital twin aims to provide ongoing insights throughout SPARC's lifecycle, potentially reducing commissioning time and accelerating the iteration cycle for future commercial plants. Rev Lebaredian, Nvidia's vice president of Omniverse, noted that the high-fidelity digital twin will enable CFS to "accelerate its engineering and shorten the timeline to clean power." For CFS, this collaboration complements its existing AI research partnership with Google DeepMind on plasma control and is targeted at the broader industrial system, including manufacturing and plant operations. The company will also apply Siemens' digital tools to optimize its nearby factory producing high-temperature superconducting magnets, a critical component for SPARC. The SPARC reactor is targeted to achieve first plasma in 2027, serving as a precursor to CFS's first commercial plant, ARC. With a planned capacity of 400 megawatts, the ARC plant has a long-term power purchase agreement with Google for 200MW and aims to deliver electricity to the grid in the early 2030s. Founded in 2018, CFS has raised nearly $3 billion, including an $863 million Series B2 round with backing from Nvidia's venture arm. This partnership underscores the growing convergence of advanced computing, AI, and industrial digitalization in tackling one of energy's most formidable challenges. Source: datacenterdynamics
