In recent years, breakthroughs in nuclear fusion research in the United States and the United Kingdom have raised hopes for a clean energy future. However, many scientists believe there is still a long way to go to achieve commercial-scale deployment of the technology. Meanwhile, China’s substantial investment in nuclear fusion research and development positions it as a potential leader in the global nuclear fusion race in the coming years.
Nuclear fusion, also known as fusion reaction, is a type of nuclear reaction where two lighter nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus and an extremely light one (or particle), releasing a large amount of energy in the process. Fusion reactions occur in the plasma state of matter and require extremely high temperatures—about ten million degrees Celsius.
Since understanding nuclear fusion theory in the 1930s, scientists and engineers have been seeking opportunities to recreate and harness nuclear fusion. Governments and private companies have invested heavily in scientific research on nuclear fusion for decades. Nuclear fusion can produce around four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than nuclear fission. If fusion can be replicated on an industrial scale on Earth, it can provide nearly unlimited clean, safe, and inexpensive energy to meet global energy demands.
Globally, nuclear power accounts for about 10% of electricity generation. In countries like France, this figure is close to 70%. Currently, large technology companies, such as Google, are also turning to nuclear power to meet the massive power needs of their data centers.
Although both nuclear fission and fusion are ways humans use nuclear energy, current nuclear power plants generate electricity using fission technology, which is a proven technology. In contrast, fusion requires extremely high temperatures and pressures to produce energy, and controlled fusion has not been achieved by humans yet. The consensus in much of the scientific community is that nuclear fusion will not be commercially viable until at least 2050.
In December 2022, a group of scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced a breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology. During a fusion experiment, they achieved more energy output than input. By 2024, the UK announced that the Joint European Torus (JET) had set a record for energy output from a nuclear fusion experiment.
Despite significant advances in fusion by the U.S. and the U.K., an Asian power is expected to lead globally in the coming years. The Chinese government invests heavily in nuclear fusion research, with estimated funding between $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually. In contrast, the U.S. government provides around $800 million per year.
Private companies in both the U.S. and China believe that fusion power could be rolled out by the mid-2030s, but China is advancing at a record pace.
The Shanghai-based company Energy Singularity built its own tokamak within three years of its founding, making it the world’s first fully high-temperature superconducting tokamak device and the first fully superconducting tokamak device developed and constructed by a commercial company. Energy Singularity has attracted $112 million in private investment. The company hopes to develop a second-generation tokamak by 2027 to demonstrate its commercial viability and plans to construct a third-generation reactor that can supply power to the grid by 2035.
In contrast, many of the U.S. tokamaks are outdated, leading the country to rely on newer machines in Japan, Europe, and the U.K. to advance its research. Andrew Holland, CEO of the Washington D.C.-based Fusion Industry Association, explained, “The tokamak at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has been undergoing upgrades for ten years now. The other operating tokamak in the United States, the DIII-D, is a 30-year-old machine. There are no modern fusion facilities at American national labs.”