Takaya Taguchi, co-founder and CEO of Japan’s Helical Fusion, will be among the speakers at Web Summit 2026 in Lisbon. His talk is scheduled for November 10, from 2:10 p.m. to 2:35 p.m. local time, on Stage 10 of the Energy Summit. The conference runs in Portugal from November 9 to 12 and is one of the world’s largest technology events.
The session is titled “Why Nuclear Compute Can’t Wait a Decade”. Taguchi will share the stage with Jake Jurewicz, co-founder and CEO of Blue Energy. The topic is the link between nuclear power and the energy demand of computing. According to the press release, Taguchi will offer the perspective of a fusion developer and of fusion’s role in the global debate on the future of technology.
Helical Fusion was founded in 2021 as a spin-off of Japan’s National Institute for Fusion Science. It is developing a helical stellarator, a configuration invented in Japan in the 1950s and studied at the institute for around thirty years. The company says its advantage is continuous plasma operation, a requirement for a power plant that delivers electricity reliably.
The roadmap is called the Helix Program. It includes Helix HARUKA, a demonstration device integrating high-temperature superconducting magnets and a liquid-metal wall, aiming for steady-state plasma lasting more than 24 hours. Next comes Helix KANATA, the first pilot plant to generate power. In March 2026 the company announced the start of construction at the HARUKA phase 1 site. It has also completed a test of a high-temperature superconducting coil, a key component of commercial reactors.
On the funding side, the company closed a Series A round of 2.3 billion yen, about $15.6 million. Total capital, including equity, grants and loans, has reached 5.2 billion yen. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has also conditionally selected it for a subsidy program supporting the societal application of fusion, though the amount has not yet been confirmed. Its stated goals are to validate key technologies by the end of the 2020s and to achieve steady-state power generation in the 2030s.
Lisbon gives Helical Fusion a showcase outside the usual fusion conference circuit, in front of investors and technology companies seeking clean, continuous power for data centers. If the dialogue with the computing sector turns into supply agreements, fusion could enter the energy plans of major digital companies before the first plants come online.
