Quaise Energy has closed a $180 million Series B round, with $35 million coming from Nabors Industries as a strategic investment. The goal is to build the world’s first commercial superdeep hard-rock geothermal plant. The funds will finance Project Obsidian in central Oregon and the development of a millimeter-wave drilling system designed to reach depths exceeding 5 km.
The round was led by Prelude Ventures, with participation from JERA and Idemitsu, two of Japan’s largest energy conglomerates. Nabors’ involvement goes beyond capital: the company is one of the world’s largest drilling rig operators, and its entry opens the door to direct operational collaboration for commercial-scale deployment of the technology. Project Obsidian will be built on federal leases within the Deschutes National Forest, one of the most extensively studied geothermal areas in the United States, with an estimated potential in the gigawatt range. First power to the grid is expected by 2030.
Quaise’s technology originated at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where researcher Paul Woskov recognized back in 2008 that a gyrotron — the same device used to heat plasma in fusion reactors — could vaporize rock without placing any hardware downhole. After more than a decade of research, the startup was spun out of MIT in 2018. The system emits millimeter waves that ablate rock, bypassing the physical limitations of conventional drill bits, which degrade rapidly at great depths and extreme temperatures. Before 2025, this technology had only been demonstrated in the lab, drilling holes just a few centimeters deep. In July 2025, Quaise drilled 100 meters into granite at a test site in central Texas, setting a world record for millimeter-wave drilling. The next step is a gyrotron with ten times the current power output.
The energy implications are far-reaching. By accessing rocks at temperatures between 300 and 500°C, Quaise estimates it can extract geothermal energy virtually anywhere in the world, not just in traditional volcanic regions. A plant of this kind would have a power density comparable to fossil fuel and nuclear facilities, with long-term costs in line with renewables. CEO Carlos Araque stated that the company has already signed preliminary agreements with several customers, including at least one major tech company and a utility, without disclosing their names. For the Oregon site, the plan calls for a 50 MW plant: the first 20 MW using conventional drilling, followed by an additional 30 MW powered by the millimeter-wave system.
Superdeep geothermal is positioning itself as one of the key baseload energy sources of the coming decade. If Quaise succeeds in demonstrating commercial viability with Project Obsidian by 2030, the model could be replicated on a global scale, complementing nuclear power in the delivery of continuous, low-emission energy. The convergence of fusion technologies and geothermal applications — a path that traces directly back to MIT — represents one of the most concrete engineering responses to the demand for reliable power that the world is building today.
