Nuclear Fusion Energy "Breaking Dawn" Initial Formation of Dual-Track Parallel Industrial Landscape

◎Reporter Liu Yifeng

On December 28, 2025, the Hefei Institute of Material Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that the procurement package for the calibration field coil of the ITER international thermonuclear fusion experimental reactor, undertaken by the Institute of Plasma Physics, has completed all manufacturing tasks, with the final four coils successfully delivered.

Since January, when the all-superconducting Tokamak EAST device, dubbed the “Artificial Sun,” set a new world record and achieved continuous operation of 100 million degrees Celsius plasma for 1,066 seconds, and by December, when key manufacturing breakthroughs were completed, “controlled nuclear fusion” has become a hot buzzword in technological innovation in 2025. It is transitioning from scientific research to engineering validation and is a key direction for solving energy shortages in new high-energy-consuming scenarios like AI computing centers.

Technological breakthroughs have sparked capital competition—China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd. was established with a 11.5 billion yuan investment, and the Future Industry Fund, with a total scale of 15 billion yuan, supported by Shanghai Guotou, focuses on cutting-edge technologies like controlled nuclear fusion. Startups such as Xingneng Xuanguang and Yixi Technology completed multiple rounds of financing within the year; in the A-share market, listed companies related to the industry chain like HeDuan Intelligent and Yongding Co., Ltd. repeatedly reached new market caps, with investor enthusiasm at an all-time high.

Scientists and engineers generally believe that once nuclear fusion becomes scalable, Earth will have an unlimited, clean energy source that does not rely on fossil fuels and produces no harmful waste, fundamentally reshaping the global energy landscape. In this energy revolution, China has become an important player. The “14th Five-Year Plan” explicitly states the goal to “promote quantum technology, biomanufacturing, hydrogen energy, nuclear fusion, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communication as new economic growth points.”

Market size growth far outpaces other energy sectors

On July 22, 2025, China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., based on the Tokamak technology route of the Southwest Institute of Physics at China National Nuclear Corporation, was officially established in Shanghai, completing a strategic financing of 11.5 billion yuan, becoming another core platform for China’s large scientific device deployment. As early as 2024, fusion energy, as the only result transformation platform for the magnetic confinement nuclear fusion field at the Hefei Institute of Material Science, received an injection of 14.5 billion yuan.

This series of large financings marks China’s strong deployment of its “national team” in nuclear fusion and aligns with the rapid growth of private innovation forces. According to incomplete statistics from Shanghai Securities News, in 2025, multiple private fusion innovation companies such as Xingneng Xuanguang, Antong Fusion, Yixi Technology, and Xirong Zhaobo completed new rounds of financing, totaling tens of billions of yuan, covering key segments like fusion reactor design, core materials, and control systems.

“With increasing industry attention, nuclear fusion is rapidly transforming from a niche scientific research field into a frontier technology race and a new focus for capital competition,” said Ye Yuming, co-founder and COO of Energy Singularity, in an interview with Shanghai Securities News. The favor of capital markets not only lowers financing barriers for companies but also significantly attracts top talent in physics and engineering, injecting vital momentum into technological industrialization.

“The current investment boom essentially reflects society’s growing confidence in the commercialization of nuclear fusion energy, indicating that fusion is moving from research to engineering and industrialization stages,” said Sun Xuan, founder of Xingneng Xuanguang, which completed two rounds of financing in 2025. He added that the industry’s clear development direction provides valuable opportunities for companies to pursue a differentiated technical path like ‘field reversal.’

In the process of industrializing fusion energy, breakthroughs in high-temperature superconducting materials are crucial. Jin Zhijian, founder of Yixi Technology, told Shanghai Securities News that driven by the wave of developing compact fusion devices, the demand for superconducting materials is growing exponentially, presenting a historic opportunity. In 2025, Yixi Technology completed three rounds of financing, focusing on mass production lines for high-temperature superconducting tapes and performance upgrades.

The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) in the U.S. reported that by July 2025, global commercial fusion investments had reached $9.7 billion, a 414% increase compared to 2021, outpacing traditional and new energy sectors. According to the International Energy Agency, the global fusion market could reach $496.55 billion by 2030, and by 2050, it could drive the formation of trillion-dollar industries in materials, core equipment, and related fields.

Initial formation of a dual-track industry pattern

In the parallel development of industrialization, compared to the “national team” led large-scale tokamaks, private startups mainly focus on smaller fusion devices, with “compact, high-efficiency, low-cost” as core breakthroughs. They differ in technical design, application scenarios, and development models, forming a complementary and collaborative relationship.

“Research institutes and state-owned enterprises, representing the ‘national team,’ shoulder the core missions of basic research, major technological breakthroughs, and building national experimental platforms; private companies are market-oriented, focusing on commercialization, with agility in technological innovation, business models, and supply chain efficiency,” said Dong Wei, CEO of Taiai Fusion, in an interview. This “basic research + commercial transformation” collaborative model fosters a healthy industry development pattern.

Take China’s first private fusion startup, Energy Singularity, as an example. Its design and construction of the world’s first full high-temperature superconducting tokamak, “Honghuang 70,” uses high-temperature superconducting magnets with a localization rate of over 96%. This significantly reduces the device size and shortens construction time, providing a technological model for the commercialization of small-scale fusion devices.

In terms of application scenarios, small fusion devices meet diverse market needs, especially in specialized power and high-end electricity supply fields: in large ship propulsion systems, they can provide long-lasting, clean power sources, solving pollution and endurance issues associated with traditional fuel engines; in AI computing centers and remote energy bases with high power demand, their distributed power supply mode offers stability and flexibility.

Most industry experts believe that many domestic startup fusion companies originate from top scientific institutions, with deep technical expertise supporting project implementation and covering mainstream commercial fusion routes, forming a differentiated competitive landscape. However, many teams lack practical experience in industrial operations, market expansion, and capital management. Building a “technology + industry + capital” integrated core team would greatly improve the success rate of commercialization.

Establishment of an industrial system entering a critical period

In the “14th Five-Year Plan” proposals released by various regions, Anhui, Sichuan, Guangdong, and others have included nuclear fusion in their future industry lists. From the perspective of industry clustering, three major R&D and industrial hubs—Shanghai, Hefei, and Chengdu—are accelerating formation.

Anhui aims for the world’s first nuclear fusion power generation; Chengdu focuses on the development and iteration of major devices like “China Circulation Three,” with key layouts in fusion reactor component manufacturing and tritium fuel cycle technology; Shanghai leverages capital aggregation and industrial synergy to create an efficient platform integrating “capital + technology + application,” bridging cutting-edge scientific results to market.

“Upgrading nuclear fusion to a strategic future industry at the national level will bring specific measures such as industrial planning, R&D support, and market demonstration. But it will also accelerate industry reshuffling, with companies facing not just scientific competition but also comprehensive challenges in technical capability, engineering efficiency, and cost control,” said Ye Yuming.

As a long-term, highly complex engineering future industry, balancing “patient capital” with phased returns is crucial. Guosheng Securities analyst told Shanghai Securities News that their investment strategy centers on adopting a “long-term optimism, short-term pragmatism” mindset, surpassing expectations of short-term power generation, and focusing on transitional scenarios like neutron source applications from fusion reactions, which have clearer commercialization paths, to balance long-term vision and capital risk-reward.

Regarding future industry development, Lu Bo, head of the Fusion New Energy Industry Development Department, suggested increasing industry integration, forming an end-to-end “R&D—design—construction—operation” capability; strengthening talent cultivation, encouraging key universities to actively develop fusion science, engineering, and skilled personnel; supporting regional clusters around fusion industry development, improving local supporting capabilities, and enhancing supply chain responsiveness and cost advantages.

Despite the enormous engineering challenges of fusion devices and the long timeline for commercial power generation, industry experts generally believe that the next decade will be a critical window—technological routes are expected to gradually converge, supply chains will accelerate maturity, and engineering capabilities will continue to be refined. The industry landscape of “national team” tackling major projects and private companies specializing in niche fields will gradually become clearer.