DOE Awards $159M to Bring Scientific AI Into Fusion, Chip Design, and Quantum Research

A fusion experiment, a geothermal reservoir, and a chip built to survive intense radiation have something in common: each can require researchers to explore an enormous space of possible designs before finding one that works. The U.S. Department of Energy’s latest Genesis Mission awards aim to put AI inside that search process, helping scientists decide what to simulate, build, and test next.

DOE announced $159 million for 12 new Phase II projects on October 8, 2026, alongside six additional Phase I awards. The department says the mission’s first-year cohort is now complete at 297 projects. Its broader Phase II portfolio contains 14 projects, including GridFM 2.0 and Prometheus, supported through the offices of Electricity and Nuclear Energy. The scope is unusually broad. The selected work stretches from fusion and geothermal energy to RNA structures, rare-earth separation, scientific software, and quantum computing.

What connects the projects is a practical ambition: use AI to shorten the distance between an idea and a scientifically useful result. DOE describes the initiative using the term “Super Intelligence,” abbreviated SI. That terminology warrants care. The announcement…