The U.S. Department of Energy awards General Matter a $900 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to build and operate High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) enrichment capacity at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky. The ten-year, milestone-based contract funds construction and startup of a commercial enrichment facility on a site that once powered America's Cold War atomic energy program.
The Thiel Pipeline
The contract arrives just nine months after Peter Thiel personally joined General Matter's board as part of Founders Fund's $50 million Series A investment in April 2025. CEO Scott Nolan spent 13 years as a Founders Fund partner; COO Lee Robinson previously led energy investments at the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit. Founders Fund explicitly frames General Matter as the third leg of a "Palantir-Anduril-General Matter trilogy" — three companies incubated through the fund to privatize core government functions spanning surveillance (Palantir), weapons (Anduril), and nuclear fuel (General Matter).
Strategic Significance
Currently only Russia and China produce commercial-scale HALEU, the fuel required for most next-generation advanced reactors including military microreactors. The DOD's Project Pele is developing HALEU-fueled mobile microreactors for forward operating bases. General Matter's $1.5 billion total investment in Western Kentucky — including this contract — represents the largest private investment in the region's history, creating 140 jobs. The speed from Thiel's board seat to a $900 million government contract illustrates how the Thiel network's government relationships accelerate the public-private capture pipeline.