The world’s most powerful machine just got a powerful set of patrons. A coalition of Silicon Valley’s most recognizable names — including Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and others — is pledging nearly €860 million to help build the next great leap in particle physics: CERN’s Future Circular Collider (FCC). If all goes according to plan, this next‑generation collider could be humming beneath Geneva’s soil by the 2040s.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) gave us the Higgs boson, one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 21st century. But at CERN, “bigger” and “faster” are words to live by. The new Future Circular Collider would make the current setup look almost quaint. Planned as a massive ring stretching 90 to 100 kilometers underground, the FCC would push particle collisions to energy levels far beyond what today’s machines can achieve.
To scientists, it’s not just a larger version of what exists — it’s a ticket to a deeper understanding of the universe. In those high‑energy collisions could lie answers to some of physics’ most haunting questions:
CERN’s budget alone can’t cover a megaproject like the FCC, so private philanthropy is stepping in. The early backers form a sort of dream team of tech wealth:
Together, they’ve pledged nearly €860 million — about $1 billion (USD) — a bold infusion of private money into one of the most fundamental scientific endeavors on Earth.
Of course, curiosity on this scale doesn’t come cheap. The first phase of the FCC is expected to cost a breathtaking $235–240 billion, with completion unlikely before the 2040s. A second phase, stretching into mid‑century or beyond, would climb even higher.
But consider the potential payoff: new forms of matter, fresh glimpses into the universe’s first moments, perhaps even entirely new physics. To the scientists behind it, that’s a price worth paying.
There’s something almost poetic about this collaboration — a union of 21st‑century tech wealth and 20th‑century scientific ambition, both driven by the desire to push boundaries. CERN’s mission remains the same as it was when it built the LHC: to test the limits of our understanding of reality itself.
Construction is still years away, and funding beyond these early donations will require governments, institutions, and more public support. But with this wave of billionaire backing, the dream of the Future Circular Collider suddenly feels a little less like science fiction and a little more like a blueprint in progress.
So, what do you think? Should the world’s richest tech leaders be pouring fortunes into a quest for cosmic truths — or should that money be focused on Earthbound problems first? The debate might be as deep as the tunnel CERN plans to carve under the Swiss countryside.