CERN Secures $1 Billion for Future Circular Collider Project
CERN has achieved a significant milestone by securing $1 billion in private donations for the Future Circular Collider (FCC). This funding marks a notable change in CERN’s 72-year history of financing scientific research. The contributions from philanthropic organizations and individual donors aim to help address the FCC’s estimated total cost of $18 billion.
CERN’s Historic Funding for the Future Circular Collider
The financial support comes from notable sources, including the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund, and billionaire entrepreneurs John Elkann and Xavier Niel. Their combined pledge, made in late December 2025, is a groundbreaking partnership for CERN.
Fabiola Gianotti, the Director-General of CERN, expressed her gratitude for this generous initiative. She remarked on the significance of private partnerships in advancing fundamental physics research, emphasizing the project’s potential impact on our understanding of the universe.
Future Circular Collider Overview
The Future Circular Collider is envisioned as a gigantic scientific instrument that will succeed the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The proposed FCC will feature:
- A tunnel measuring 90.7 kilometers (56.3 miles) in length, buried 200 meters underground.
- A timeline for construction to begin in 2030, pending approval from the CERN Council in 2028.
- Operations are expected to commence in 2047.
This ambitious project is structured in two phases. The first phase, known as FCC-ee, will function as a Higgs factory. It aims to produce a million Higgs particles, allowing scientists to study their properties with unprecedented precision.
Long-Term Vision and Scientific Objectives
The FCC is designed to replace the High Luminosity LHC, facilitating high-precision particle studies until the early 2060s. By around 2073, the FCC-hh phase is expected to take center stage. This high-energy “discovery machine” will accelerate protons at an energy level of 85 TeV, with the objective of finding new particles through the end of the century.
China’s Project Faces Setback
The progress of the FCC comes in the wake of delays faced by a competing project, China’s Circular Electron-Positron Collider (CEPC). Recently, the Chinese government decided not to include the CEPC in its 2026–2030 five-year plan, giving CERN a clear advantage in the field of particle physics. Should the FCC not be approved by 2030, Beijing may reconsider its position on CEPC.
Collaborative Opportunities and Future Challenges
With China’s plan on hold, there is potential for collaborative efforts, similar to the ITER project, where China could supply crucial components and expertise for the FCC. Meanwhile, the new Director-General of CERN, Mark Thomson, faces the dual challenge of advancing the FCC initiative and managing major upgrades to the existing laboratory infrastructure.
Thomson’s immediate focus is the planned June 2026 shutdown of the LHC, which will pave the way for the High Luminosity upgrade. This upgrade aims to replace about 90 percent of the accelerator’s key systems with advanced niobium-tin superconducting magnets, enhancing particle collision rates significantly.
The strategic developments at CERN signal a promising future for both the organization and the global scientific community.
