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H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB Six-month report 2025
Press release

1 July, 2025

Second quarter (1 March 2025 – 31 May 2025)
- Sales in local currencies increased by 1 percent in the second quarter, with 4 percent fewer stores at the end of the quarter compared with the same point in time last year. Excluding these closures, sales increased by 3 percent. Converted into SEK, net sales amounted to SEK 56,714 m (59,605). Net sales in SEK were negatively affected by a currency translation effect of around 6 percentage points due to the strengthened Swedish krona.
- Gross profit amounted to SEK 31,425 m (33,569), which corresponds to a gross margin of 55.4 percent (56.3). The gross margin was negatively affected mainly by external factors such as a more expensive US dollar and high freight costs, which increased the cost of purchasing for the second quarter, but also by the company’s investments in the customer offering. The external factors that had a negative impact on purchasing in the first half of the year are turning positive for the second half of the year.
- Selling and administrative expenses amounted to SEK 25,489 m (26,446). In local currencies these expenses increased by 2 percent.
- Operating profit amounted to SEK 5,914 m (7,098), corresponding to an operating margin of 10.4 percent (11.9). The decrease in operating profit was mainly attributable to the lower gross margin and negative currency translation effects.
- The result after tax amounted to SEK 3,962 m (5,064¹), corresponding to SEK 2.48 (3.15¹) per share.
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 8,528 m (12,600). Cash and cash equivalents plus undrawn credit facilities were SEK 35,828 m (42,572).
- The composition of the stock-in-trade is good. During the quarter the stock-in-trade developed in a positive direction with a significantly lower growth rate of 1 percent compared to the first quarter’s increase of 11 percent in local currencies. At the end of the second quarter the volume of goods was lower than at the same point in time last year. Higher purchasing costs explain the increase in stock-in-trade compared with the previous year.
First half-year (1 December 2024 – 31 May 2025)
- In local currencies net sales increased by 1 percent in the first half of the year. Converted into SEK, the H&M group’s net sales amounted to SEK 112,047 m (113,274).
- Gross profit amounted to SEK 58,594 m (61,224). This corresponds to a gross margin of 52.3 percent (54.0).
- Selling and administrative expenses amounted to SEK 51,427 m (52,010). In local currencies these expenses increased by 1 percent compared with the previous year.
- Operating profit amounted to SEK 7,117 m (9,175), corresponding to an operating margin of 6.4 percent (8.1). The decrease in operating profit was attributable in full to the lower gross margin, which was negatively affected by external factors such as a more expensive US dollar and higher freight costs, but also by markdowns and investments in the customer offering.
- The result after tax amounted to SEK 4,541 m (6,295¹), corresponding to SEK 2.85 (3.91¹) per share.
- Cash flow from operating profit amounted to SEK 12,729 m (16,567).
- The H&M group’s sales in the month of June 2025 are expected to increase by 3 percent in local currencies compared with the same month the previous year. The sales increase of 3 percent is impacted by a negative calendar effect of around one percentage point.
- Environmental organisation Stand.earth rated the H&M group as the best company in the fashion industry for the group’s work to phase out fossil fuels. The H&M group gained the highest overall score among leading brands in the fashion industry for its climate efforts.
- The annual general meeting on 7 May 2025 resolved to authorise the board to decide on buybacks of the company’s own class B shares in the period up to the 2026 annual general meeting for the purpose of adjusting the company’s capital structure and enabling purchases of shares for the company’s share-based incentive program. The board of directors has made the decision to buy back the company’s own class B shares to ensure the delivery of class B shares to the participants in the company’s long-term incentive program (LTIP). The cumulative number of shares that can be purchased is 1,100,000 shares, for a maximum cumulative amount of SEK 175 m.
- H&M is opening its first stores and online in Brazil, a country with a population of more than 200 million, early in the second half of 2025.
“Our plan, with its focus on the product offering, the shopping experience and brand, is again confirmed by the progress we see. The positive development in important areas such as online, H&M womenswear and H&M Move, as well as continued focus on good cost control, will contribute to a profitable sales development,” says Daniel Ervér, CEO.

1. See note 5.

Comments by Daniel Ervér, CEO

Our plan, with its focus on the product offering, the shopping experience and brand, is again confirmed by the progress we see. The positive development in important areas such as online, H&M womens-wear and H&M Move, as well as continued focus on good cost control, will contribute to a profitable sales development.

Sales in local currencies increased by 1 percent in the second quarter, with 4 percent fewer stores at the end of the quarter compared with the same point in time the previous year. Excluding these closures, sales increased by 3 percent. Moreover, the quarter is to be seen in light of the fact that the second quarter of 2024 was a strong quarter with a sales increase of 3 percent.

The quarter’s result was negatively affected by higher purchasing prices as a result of a more expensive US dollar and higher freight costs, but also by the fact that we have continued to invest in the customer offering. Investments made to strengthen our customer offering and give customers even more value for money. The negative external factors that increased the costs of purchasing for the first half of the year are turning positive for the second half of the year.

Our plan, with its focus on the product offering, the shopping experience and the H&M brand, is confirmed by the progress we see in key parts of the business. With the customer offering at the centre, we have further strengthened the organisation’s focus on product and customer experience. The improvements implemented in online, H&M womenswear and H&M Move, together with increased product availability and closer collaboration with our suppliers, have continued to bring positive results. Portfolio brands also grew in the quarter and COS has developed particularly well. Some measures have a faster impact than others, but the direction is clear and during the year we continue to implement improvements in other parts of the business.

Our upgraded digital store is now rolled out and the response from customers is positive. In our omni-model we continue to integrate our physical and digital sales channels that complement and strengthen each other. We also continue to expand in growth markets. We look forward to opening both online and physical stores in Brazil in the second half of the year, and taking H&M’s business concept – fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way – to a country that has a population of more than 200 million and a great interest in fashion.

The integration of sustainability into our daily operations continues to deliver results. The climate and environmental organisation Stand.earth ranks H&M as number one among 42 fashion companies in terms of reducing climate impact.

In uncertain times with cautious consumers we monitor macroeconomic and geopolitical developments closely and continuously adapt both the customer offering and the business to meet our customers’ needs in the best way. We continue to strengthen the product offering and the experience both online and in our stores. With a clear plan, a strong financial position, good cost control and committed employees, we see good opportunities for long-term, sustainable and profitable growth.

Communication in conjunction with the six-month report

The six-month report, i.e., 1 December 2024 – 31 May 2025, will be published at 08:00 CEST on 26 June 2025, followed by a combined press and telephone conference at 09:00 CEST for the financial market and media, hosted by CEO Daniel Ervér, CFO Adam Karlsson and Head of IR Joseph Ahlberg. A presentation of the report followed by a Q & A session will be held in English.

Location: H&M’s head office in Stockholm, Mäster Samuelsgatan 49, 3rd floor, Ljusgården. The event will be broadcasted online and questions can also be asked by telephone. For log in details please register: https://app.webinar.net/vwELGVnGex6

To book interviews for media in conjunction with the full-year report on 26 June 2025, please contact: Anna Frosch Nordin, Head of Media Relations, telephone +46 73 432 93 14, anna.froschnordin@hm.com.

Please note that the combined press and telephone conference starts at 09:00 CEST. Also note that there will not be a separate telephone conference in the afternoon CEST.

Contact

Joseph Ahlberg, Head of IR +46 73 465 93 92

Daniel Ervér, CEO +46 8 796 55 00
(switchboard)

Adam Karlsson, CFO +46 8 796 55 00
(switchboard)

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ)
SE-106 38 Stockholm
Phone: +46 8 796 55 00, e-mail: info@hm.com
Registered office: Stockholm, Reg. No. 556042-7220

For more information about the H&M group visit hmgroup.com.

Information in this interim report is that which H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (publ) is required to disclose under the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014. The information was submitted for publication by the abovementioned persons at 08:00 (CEST) on 26 June 2025. This interim report and other information about the H&M group are available at hmgroup.com.

H & M HENNES & MAURITZ AB (PUBL) was founded in Sweden in 1947 and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. H&M’s business idea is to offer fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way. The group’s brands are H&M (including H&M HOME, H&M Move and H&M Beauty), COS, Weekday (including Cheap Monday and Monki), & Other Stories, ARKET, Singular Society and Sellpy. The group also includes several ventures. For further information, visit hmgroup.com.
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July 1, 2025
Centralized Campaigns, AI Support and More for Businesses on WhatsApp

Today, at our global Conversations conference in Miami, we’re introducing updates to help make WhatsApp the go-to place for doing business.

Streamlining Marketing Across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram

We’re streamlining how businesses can create and manage their marketing strategy across WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram – all in Ads Manager. Now, businesses of all sizes can use the same creative, setup flows and budgets in one central place. Once onboarded, businesses can upload their subscriber list and either manually select marketing messages as an additional placement or use Advantage+, and our AI systems will then optimize budgets across placements to maximize performance. Once available, businesses interested in creating ads in Status will be able to do that from Ads Manager too.

Expanding AI Support

As businesses attract more customers, they need additional support responding to an influx of chats. This is where AI can help. We’re exploring a Business AI that can make personalized product recommendations and facilitate sales on any business’ website – and then follow up with customers to answer questions or provide updates right in a WhatsApp chat. And starting soon, we’ll expand Business AIs to more businesses in Mexico.

Adding Calling and Voice Options

There also might be times it’s helpful to provide additional support to customers beyond just a text. In the coming weeks, larger businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will be able to receive a call from a customer when they want to talk to someone live, or call a customer directly once they’ve asked to hear from you. And starting soon, we’ll also make it possible to send and receive voice messages for additional support, or make a video call which can be helpful for things like a telehealth appointment. Bringing calling and voice updates to the WhatsApp Business Platform will help people communicate in a way that works best for them and paves the way for AI-enabled voice support in the future. Businesses interested in getting started with calling on the WhatsApp Business Platform can work with one of our partners.

We look forward to hearing how these updates help businesses strengthen relationships with their customers and increase efficiency.

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July 1, 2025
Gilts rally as Andrew Bailey hints at reduction in BoE debt sales – Financial Times
1. Gilts rally as Andrew Bailey hints at reduction in BoE debt sales Financial Times
2. BoE urged to curb bond sales investors say could ‘reignite’ sell-off Financial Times
3. Bank of England’s Bailey defends bond programme after Reform UK criticism Yahoo
4. BoE echoes central banks’ long bond sensitivity Reuters
5. Andrew Bailey defends £150bn BoE losses after Reform UK warns it’s a ‘misuse of taxpayers’ money’ GB News
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July 1, 2025
BTS will return in spring 2026 with a new album and world tour

NEW YORK — Their reunion? It’s smooth like butter. The K-pop septet BTS will return in spring 2026 with a new album and world tour.

Members Jin, RM, V, Jimin, J-Hope, Jung Kook and Suga made the announcement Tuesday during a livestream on Weverse, an online fan platform owned by BTS management company Hybe. It was the first time all seven members have broadcast live together since September 2022.

“We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year. Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music,” the band said in a statement. “Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”

They also announced a world tour, their first in nearly four years. The news arrives a few weeks after BTS superstars RM, V, Jimin and Jung Kook were discharged from South Korea’s military after fulfilling their mandatory service.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea. Six of the group’s seven members served in the army, while Suga, the last to return, fulfilled his duty as a social service agent, an alternative to military service.

Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.

South Korea’s law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t subject to such privileges. However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service after South Korea’s National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.

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July 1, 2025
Tennis, Wimbledon 2025: Barbora Krejčíková comes back to begin title defence with win over Alexandra Eala

From underdog in 2024 to reigning champion in 2025, Barbora Krejčíková emerged to a warm applause on a boiling day at Wimbledon.

The Czech Olympic tennis champion was in for a tough opening round against rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala, but Krejčíková came through to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday, 1 July.

Krejčíková will meet Caroline Dolehide or Arantxa Rus in the second round of the Championships 2025.

More to follow.

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July 1, 2025
King Charles launches Holyrood Week events in Edinburgh

Reuters

King Charles III was greeted by musicians from the Royal Regiment of Scotland and senior military and uniformed figures

King Charles and Queen Camilla have arrived in Edinburgh for a series of events to mark Holyrood Week – the annual royal celebration of Scottish culture, community and achievements.

The King’s first engagement was the traditional Ceremony of the Keys in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, his official residence in the Scottish capital.

It took place shortly after the Royal couple arrived by helicopter.

The monarch traditionally spends a week each July in Edinburgh but last year the programme was shortened by the general election.

Reuters

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh Robert Aldridge presents the keys to the City of Edinburgh to King Charles III during the Ceremony of the Keys at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

PA Media

The palace gardens were transformed into a parade ground

Before the ceremony, the palace’s gardens were transformed into a parade ground and the King met senior military and uniformed figures.

He then received a royal salute before inspecting a Guard of Honour of soldiers from the Royal Company of Archers, who serve as the King’s ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland.

Also lined up was the Palace Guard made up of soldiers from Balaklava Company, 5 Scots, and the High Constables of the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

PA Media

Scotland’s most decorated Olympian Duncan Scott receives an OBE for services to swimming

Duncan Scott, who won his eighth Olympic medal at the Paris Games last year, said receiving an OBE for services to swimming was a “special moment”.

Recently the 28-year-old gave evidence in parliament calling on MSPs to recognise the value of swimming pools and provide financial relief to keep them open.

He is also an ambassador for Scottish Swimming’s Learn to Swim programme.

“You don’t do sport for the recognition. You do it for things that you want to achieve, either individually or as part of a team,” he said.

“But there is that added element that it’s really humbling and really nice to be recognised for the hard work that you’ve put in.”

PA Media

Double Paralympic champion swimmer Stephen Clegg receives an MBE

Paralympian Stephen Clegg, who won two gold medals at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, described being made an MBE as a “huge honour”.

The swimmer, who has a visual impairment and swims in the S12 category, said the recognition “puts a spotlight on not just the sport as a whole, but sport for the disabled community”.

He said as a child he struggled with “all the barriers and limitations” people had placed on him and that swimming had allowed him to prove them wrong.

PA Media

Barbara Rae was awarded a damehood for services to art in the New Years Honours

Falkirk-born artist Dame Barbara Rae said her damehood for services to art was a “really quite rare accolade”.

The painter and printmaker studied at Edinburgh College of Art and went on to teach art in secondary schools, then lecture at Aberdeen College of Education and Glasgow School of Art.

The 81-year-old’s work has been exhibited around the world, including at venues in New York and Hong Kong.

She said she hopes her damehood will inspire up-and-coming artists.

Retired solicitor Kevin Hay was also made an MBE after spending 17 years translating the Bible into Doric – the first time the whole text has ever changed into any variant of the Scots language.

The Old Testament was published last year while the New Testament was released in 2012, comprising more than 800,000 words between them.

He said he was “absolutely delighted” to have been recognised for his work.

“When I was at school, you got belted if you spoke Scots of any kind, even one Scots word, and you could get the belt,” he said.

“And here’s now a recognition for doing something in that very language. So it’s great.”

PA Media

Queen Camilla and writer Sir Ian Rankin officially launched newly-built Ratho Library in Newbridge

PA Media

Queen Camilla met librarians, writers and figures from Edinburgh’s annual literary festival

PA Media

Queen Camilla received flowers from local schoolchildren after the opening

Queen Camilla officially opened Ratho Library in Newbridge near Edinburgh Airport, alongside Scottish crime author Sir Ian Rankin.

She was greeted by librarians, local schoolchildren, young writers and poets, and figures from Edinburgh’s annual literary festival.

It marked the launch of a five-year initiative by the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh City Libraries to promote literature in local communities.

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July 1, 2025
Arshile Gorky’s experience as an immigrant to the US and the painting that defined it – The Art Newspaper

In 1920, a young Armenian painter named Vosdanig Manuk Adoian emigrated to the US, fleeing from the Armenian genocide. After four years living with relatives in Massachusetts, he moved to New York City and changed his name to Arshile Gorky in honour of the celebrated Russian poet Maxim Gorky.

A new publication titled Arshile Gorky: New York City, edited by Ben Eastham, examines Gorky’s artistic evolution against the backdrop of New York as a Modernist mecca, straddling Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. In the book, writers and art historians explore Gorky’s Manhattan years, including Adam Gopnik who, in the essay “Gorky Again”, reflects on the relationship of the artist’s paintings to time and place. Here, he turns our focus to an important double portrait and Gorky’s experience as an Armenian immigrant to the US.

Extract from ‘Gorky Again’ in Arshile Gorky: New York City

What Arshile Gorky and the other great immigrant observers of America had in common is that each pursued a passion in the modern sense, making art against the grain of commerce, while each underwent a passion in the mythical Greek sense—had some moment of struggle or pain that resolved in art, and, often, in the closest thing artists get to immortality: a place in the collective memory. In the artist’s last interview [1948], he again describes himself as Russian, but also as an “early American”, who, according to his interviewer, “dislikes being called a foreigner and says he is more like one of the first settlers because he can appreciate the advantages of being in America to a far greater extent than those who were born here by ‘lucky accident’”.

With Gorky we sense a classic immigrant’s plight: a desire to restore and recuperate the recipes and precise tastes and qualities of a lost, more savoury and less homogenised past, while making it live within the scale and ambition of American reality. Scale alone becomes a vital form of assimilation: do it big and you do it American. To do “Poussin over entirely from nature” was Cézanne’s cry; to do the artisanal, puzzling, irregular Old-World particularism—a world wrought, as Gorky itemised, from the shape of apricots and baker’s bread—over in a landscape of grand generalisations and unlimited horizons, that was the dream that [Willem] de Kooning and Gorky shared.

And so, we keep coming back to Gorky’s prime, begetting picture, a masterpiece of the American immigrant experience, which is to say of the American experience: The Artist and His Mother (around 1926-36). Taken from a formal photograph, remade over more than a decade, [it is] the foundation of his art. We see boy and mother and know that she will die, unthinkably, of starvation in his arms, as part of the [Armenian] genocide, and never see her son again. The image sits so sharply within our consciousness, no matter how often we return to it, because it offers something not illustrative but iconic, part of now-vanishing stories of loss redeemed by possibility. From starvation and persecution and the wistful enforced formality of the Old World, comes, after a long voyage, energy and hope—and with the hope, a residual longing for the older world, and a need to picture all that happened between the departure and the painting. Gorky’s kind lives as a series of passionate pilgrimages made by improbable arrivals and painters who, however necessarily absurd in their effect at moments, struggled against unimaginable hardship to realise their images.

Gorky’s last written words before his painfully premeditated suicide [he took his own life in 1948]—“good-bye my ’loveds,” in one version—were a cry of the heart of a suffering man who loved his daughters, as well as a literary reference to a phrase [the Russian poet and playwright Alexander] Pushkin is reported to have written before he died following a duel. The curse of history and the hope of renewal, old and new drawn together in pain. All artists die in a duel, perhaps the duel of talent against the world. We honour them not by placing them back in history, but by reminding ourselves that what we call history is just what they did, which was everything they could.

• Arshile Gorky: New York City, Ben Eastham (editor) and various contributors incl. Adam Gopnik, Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 244pp, £32 (pb)

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July 1, 2025
Bosch shines with maiden five-for in South Africa’s record-tying 9th straight test win

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) — South Africa equalled its longest winning streak in men’s test cricket when it finished off Zimbabwe by 328 runs on Tuesday.

The ninth straight win for the world test champion tied the record of the 2002-03 Proteas.

Medium-pacer Corbin Bosch claimed a maiden five-for as Zimbabwe, set a target of 537, was bowled out for 208 in its second innings after lunch on day four.

Zimbabwe suffered its heaviest test defeat on runs.

Bosch struck on the day’s first ball, removing Nick Welch after he did the same with the last ball on Monday when opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano was caught at third slip.

Sean Williams prevented the hat trick, but Zimbabwe’s first-innings century-maker was among the five wickets to fall in the first hour.

Zimbabwe went from 32-1 overnight to 82-6, effectively the end of its unlikely chase.

The main resistance came from captain Craig Ervine with 49 and tailender Wellington Masakadza with 57, his maiden test half-century.

Bosch took 5-43 in his second test, and along with his unbeaten 100 in the first innings, became the first South African to do the hundred and five-for double in the same test since Jacques Kallis in 2002. He is only the fifth South African to achieve the feat.

South Africa, with only four of the 11 who won the World Test Championship at Lord’s last month, scored 418-9 declared and 369. Zimbabwe replied with 251 and 208.

The 19-year-old Lhuan-dre Pretorius was man of the match for his 153 on debut, and the other two debutants also starred; Dewald Brevis made 51 and took a wicket, and medium-pacer Codi Yusuf had figures of 3-42 and 3-22.

“I’ve had my eye on Lhuan-dre since the SA20, and he hasn’t looked back since in any format,”” Proteas stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj said. “He’s a mature young lad. To see how goes about his business in pressure situations was very heart-warming.

“And then there’s Dewald Brevis. Not many youngsters come into our system and express themselves the way he does. Bosch is new to the international scene, but he’s really fit in like a glove. To see him conquer both facets in this test match was really special.”

The teams stay at Queens Sports Club for the second and last test of the series starting on Sunday.

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

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July 1, 2025
Defending champ Krejcikova recovers to edge Eala in three sets at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON — Given their form coming in, Barbora Krejcikova and Alexandra Eala couldn’t have been on more different trajectories.

Krejcikova, the defending Wimbledon champion and No. 17 seed, missed the first five months of 2025 with a back injury and had to withdraw from this week’s Eastbourne quarterfinals citing a thigh injury. She was a modest 3-4 in 2025 since returning from a debilitating back injury.

Eala, still a teenager, leaped into the public consciousness back in March by beating three former Grand Slam champions — Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek — in Miami. At the age of 20, last week she won six matches, including qualifying, to reach the final in Eastbourne before losing to Maya Joint — 12-10 in a third-set tiebreak.

But as Tuesday’s match progressed, muscle memory seemed to take over and Krejcikova regained her groove on the grass, defeating Eala 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

A clean backhand down the line to finish it left Krejcikova — fist aloft — roaring in triumph. She now has 14 match-wins at Wimbledon, more than any other Grand Slam.

Before the tournament began, Krejcikova was reunited with the Venus Rosewater Dish, the trophy she won here nearly a year ago. Now, it appears, she’ll have a chance to regain it.

At the outset, things didn’t look quite so rosy.

With Krejcikova serving at 2-3 in the first set, Eala broke through on the strength of a backhand winner. Playing only the second Grand Slam main draw of her young career, she made that stand up by taking better care of her serve and hitting fewer unforced errors than Krejcikova.

But the defending champion came screaming back, taking a 5-0 lead in the second set and eventually forcing a decider.

Down 1-0 and facing her second break point, Eala didn’t do enough with an approach shot and couldn’t handle the subsequent volley. In the final analysis, Krejcikova — an accomplished doubles player — was better at the net. She won eight of 13 points, while Eala was only 2-for-9.

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July 1, 2025
Accelerator Behind Scenes Of Essential Tech

At the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), the 88-Inch Cyclotron is a powerful machine built to accelerate ions and explore the atomic nucleus. For decades, it has helped scientists probe the building blocks of matter.

There’s another side to this machine that is less well known but equally impactful: It’s an indispensable testbed for electronics, materials, and medical isotopes. By delivering beams of charged particles that can be tuned to different energies and compositions, the 88-Inch Cyclotron plays a surprising and wide-ranging role in science and technology – advancing energy technologies, helping spacecraft survive radiation, and improving cancer treatments.

In collaboration with companies, universities, and government partners, here are a few examples of how the 88-Inch Cyclotron has made modern technology more reliable, resilient, and revolutionary:

Ensuring Sturdy Satellites for GPS

Much of the 88-Inch Cyclotron’s work is in testing electronics components – think microchips and circuit boards – to make sure they can stand up to harsh environments. These efforts are concentrated at the Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects (BASE) Facility, which can emulate years of exposure to space radiation in just hours. Since pioneering this type of heavy ion testing in 1979, researchers have used the 88-Inch Cyclotron to test every generation of GPS – the system behind smartphone directions, app-based location services, shipping logistics, emergency response, and many more everyday applications. By assessing how cosmic rays deposit energy and damage electronics on satellites, manufacturers can then design resilient components to keep this crucial tool running smoothly.

Developing Tougher Materials for Fusion Energy

Nuclear fusion could provide a huge supply of power, but building a fusion plant that can handle the intense process requires solving fundamental engineering problems. Using an intense beam of high-energy neutrons produced by the 88-Inch Cyclotron, researchers and companies can test materials under consideration for fusion energy machines; for example: optics that focus the laser, structural materials, and the superconducting wire for magnets.

Previous tests at other facilities used X-rays, beams of charged particles, or low-energy neutrons, which don’t fully replicate the reactions from fusion. Berkeley Lab’s more realistic neutron beam helps teams know how their materials might respond with far greater accuracy, and, in turn, design more resilient equipment up to the challenge. “No one wants to use a poor surrogate for their tests if they can use what’s basically the real thing,” said Andrew Voyles, a UC Berkeley research engineer at the 88-Inch Cyclotron who leads that research program.

Getting Rockets Ready for Launch

To prepare for extreme conditions, launch vehicles like the Atlas, Delta, and Falcon rockets have tested their electronics at the BASE Facility. Prototype components undergo rigorous trials that reveal design vulnerabilities and allow for crucial improvements before launch. The impact of even a single high-energy particle – a “single event effect” – can disrupt or disable an unprotected microchip. BASE Facility research coordinator Mike Johnson estimates that over 90% of the U.S. spacecraft that have ever gone to space have at least some of their electronics evaluated at the 88-Inch Cyclotron.

Accelerating Access to Cancer Therapies

Actinium-225 is a promising isotope for targeted cancer treatments, but it’s notoriously difficult to produce. It has been called “the rarest drug on Earth,” with a global supply of about 1,000 doses a year. Researchers used the 88-Inch Cyclotron’s neutron beam to pioneer a new method to make the isotope more efficiently. The team also designed and tested a piece of equipment that industry can license and pair with the technique to produce actinium-225 in far larger quantities – potentially thousands of doses per week. In addition, experts at the facility research the optimal ways to make other medical isotopes used in PET scans, diagnostics, and potential treatments, and have shared that knowledge with industry and academic partners across the country.

“We do these basic measurements to find the optimum recipes for making these rare isotopes, then hand it off to production facilities that can start making it in large quantities,” Voyles said. “We sit at this intersection of really interesting scientific challenges with massive societal benefits on a time scale faster than you usually see in physics. It’s the best of both possible worlds: We get to do impactful work while figuring out some cool science in the process.”

Powering Space Science to Explore Our Universe

At the BASE Facility, researchers can tune the particle beam and adjust the “cocktail” of ions and energies to simulate different radiation conditions that you might find in low-Earth orbit, deep space, or on the surface of another planet. That adjustability helps space agencies like NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) assess their equipment as precisely as possible. The 88-Inch Cyclotron has tested electronics for dozens of high-profile missions, including multiple Mars rovers, the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and the James Webb Space Telescope. “We’ve tested parts for spacecraft that have gone to all the planets in the solar system,” Johnson said.

Keeping Astronauts and Missions Safe

When astronauts venture into space, the stakes are even higher. The 88-Inch Cyclotron has supported human spaceflight efforts for decades, testing electronics for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and spacesuits. Recently, it’s been used to evaluate the electronics in the latest generation of extravehicular mobility units, spacesuits designed for NASA’s Artemis program and future missions to the Moon and Mars. These tests help engineers identify how radiation might affect systems, allowing teams to troubleshoot and safeguard those technologies before astronauts rely on them in the field.

Lowering Costs for Molten Salt Reactors

Molten salt reactors are a next-generation nuclear energy design that use liquid salts (similar to sodium chloride, or table salt) to transfer heat and eventually create electricity. Designers had theorized that chlorine isotope impurities in the salt might absorb too many neutrons, limiting reactor performance – and filtering out the impurities was expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. But the reaction had never been tested directly. Using a neutron beam at the 88-Inch Cyclotron, researchers measured the process and found that the impact was negligible. Filtering the chlorine wouldn’t be necessary, saving potential commercial developers money and making molten salt reactors more viable.

Supporting National Defense with Hardened Tech

Electronics used in national defense systems must withstand extreme conditions. The Missile Defense Agency and Test Resource Management Center are among those who use the BASE Facility to test and strengthen critical components. By replicating challenging radiation environments, the cyclotron ensures that these systems remain reliable under stress. “Even on land, depending on what a computer is doing, you might have sensitive parts,” Johnson said. “It highlights the importance of this kind of testing. Whether damaging particles come from the sun or a nuclear incident, if you have these parts fail, you could lose crucial systems.”

Making Travel Safer by Testing Parts for Cars and Planes

While much of the 88-Inch Cyclotron’s testing focuses on electronics destined for space, its capabilities are also important for systems on Earth that require high reliability and safety. Modern commercial aircraft and vehicles rely on increasingly complex electronics, from autonomous navigation systems and flight control computers to advanced driver-assist features in cars. These systems must be able to withstand single event effects from cosmic rays that find their way to Earth. Companies working on aviation and automotive technologies use the BASE Facility to rapidly put their electronics through their paces.

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July 1, 2025