SunSirs: Capital Floods Into Controllable Fusion—But Is the 'Artificial Sun' Still Decades Away?
January 23 2026 10:22:32 Securities Times (lkhu)
Driven by global policy guidance, capital impetus, and increasingly clear technological paths, the commercialization of controlled nuclear fusion has hit the "accelerator", with 2026 even being regarded as the first year of controlled nuclear fusion.
The 2026 Nuclear Fusion Energy Technology and Industry Conference (referred to as the "Nuclear Fusion Industry Conference") held recently in Hefei attracted many scientific research institutions, key universities, financial institutions, and enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. Many listed companies also went to the conference to "show their strength". According to interviews by reporters from Securities Times, with forward-looking layout, technical accumulation and capital operation, a number of listed companies have deeply participated in major controlled nuclear fusion projects in links such as superconducting materials, core equipment, and engineering general contracting, becoming an important force in promoting their industrialization.
Meanwhile, amid the upsurge in investment in controlled nuclear fusion, some analysts have said frankly that not all companies flocking to this sector are ready to "run a marathon.
Commercial nuclear fusion companies are emerging at an accelerated pace
The core appeal of controllable nuclear fusion lies in its nearly unlimited energy potential. Studies have shown that "burning" one kilogram of deuterium is equivalent to four kilograms of uranium, 7,000 tons of gasoline, or 10,000 tons of coal. Deuterium is abundant on Earth, with 45 trillion tons present just in seawater. Based on the current global energy consumption level, nuclear fusion fuel can supply humanity for hundreds of millions of years, making it a strategic choice for the world to address climate change and solve energy security challenges.
The tokamak, a controlled nuclear fusion device, is currently the most invested-in, closest to achieving controlled nuclear fusion conditions, and most technologically mature approach worldwide. ITER is the world's largest tokamak nuclear fusion project. China joined the ITER program in 2006 and undertook the manufacturing tasks of 18 procurement packages, involving core and key components such as the magnet support system, gas injection system, and the "first wall" of the reactor core that can withstand extremely high temperatures.
In recent years, with the introduction of the second-generation high-temperature superconducting tapes, compact tokamaks have emerged, significantly reducing the manufacturing cost of individual devices. Controlled nuclear fusion has transformed from a "big science facility" that only "national teams" could afford to participate in the past into an engineering project that even start-up teams can access, thereby accelerating the rise of commercial nuclear fusion companies.
In 2025, China made multiple key breakthroughs in fusion energy technology. In May, the overall assembly work of the Hefei Compact Fusion Energy Experimental Device "Kuafu Qiming" (BEST) project was officially launched two months ahead of the original plan. In July, China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd. was officially established in Shanghai. Zhang Libo, General Manager of China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., provided a clear timetable: the fusion energy combustion experiment will start in 2027, the R&D and design capability for an engineering test reactor will be set by 2030, the first engineering test reactor will be completed in 2035, and the first commercial demonstration reactor will be built around 2045.
According to data from Fusion Energy Base, the scale of industry financing has risen significantly over the past five years. As of July 2025, the total cumulative equity financing in the global fusion energy sector has reached 9.7 billion US dollars. Although equity financing in China started relatively late, it has grown at a rapid pace, with the participation of listed companies among others.
On December 18, 2025, Beijing Critical Domain Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Critical Domain") announced the completion of a 30 million yuan strategic financing. Among them, listed company Jiemei Technology acquired a 22.50% stake in Beijing Critical Domain with 27 million yuan of its own funds. According to an interview with a reporter from Securities Times, relying on China's first mass production line for high-quality copper-based high-temperature superconducting powders, targets, and maglev textured blocks, which is scheduled to be completed in mid-2026, Critical Domain will quickly realize large-scale and stable production of key raw materials, break the barrier between "laboratory technology" and "industrial application", and promote China's high-temperature superconducting industry to form a complete industrial chain with independent control and coordinated development.
On January 16, 2026, the Fusion Financial Institution Alliance was officially established. According to a reporter from Securities Times, the alliance was co-initiated by 15 institutions including University of Science and Technology Silicon Valley Company, Innoangel Fund, Legend Capital, Legend Star, and Hefei Innovation Investment. It has gathered 130 high-quality financial investment institutions and innovation platforms. With innovation origination, industrial linkage, financial support, and in-depth collaboration as its core logic, it will inject financial impetus into the development of the nuclear fusion energy industry from scientific research breakthroughs to industrial application.
Listed companies are actively deploying
During the Nuclear Fusion Industry Conference, a large number of enterprises participated in the exhibition with their nuclear fusion products, covering the entire industrial chain including materials, components, and engineering equipment, and the participation of enterprises far exceeded expectations.
Among them, the Advanced Divertor Joint Laboratory, a collaboration between Advanced Technology & Materials Co., Ltd. (AT&M) and the Energy Research Institute of Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, was officially established, and the major procurement project for BEST divertor target plates was formally signed. AT&M's tungsten-copper materials have become the core material of choice for the first wall of nuclear fusion devices and have been supplied in batches to multiple domestic experimental devices. According to the news released by AT&M, the two parties will jointly promote the engineering application of controlled nuclear fusion energy in China, "seizing the commanding heights of the global energy technology revolution and injecting core impetus into the industrialization development of controlled nuclear fusion energy.
It is worth noting that a number of listed companies, relying on their long-term accumulation in fields such as nuclear power equipment, superconducting materials, and precision manufacturing, have accelerated their layout and achieved breakthroughs in multiple links.
In the upstream materials sector, the superconducting magnet products of Western Superconducting Technologies have been successfully applied in the ITER project. The REBCO high-temperature superconducting tapes produced by Eastern Superconducting Technology, a subsidiary of Yongding Co., Ltd., have been included in the supplier list of the BEST project. In the midstream core components segment, Hefei Metalforming Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd., relying on its technical accumulation in the field of large-scale precision forging equipment, successfully won the vacuum chamber order for the BEST project with an amount of 209 million yuan. In the downstream system integration and operation field, China National Nuclear Power not only participated in the capital increase and share expansion of China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd., but also actively laid out the construction and operation of nuclear fusion demonstration reactors. Traditional energy equipment giants such as Shanghai Electric and Dongfang Electric, by virtue of their advantages in large-scale machinery manufacturing and system integration, fully participate in the construction of nuclear fusion devices.
We have been following the emerging industry of controllable nuclear fusion for several years, and have organized personnel to track projects and conduct research and development of related products. Our thin-film capacitors and related energy storage systems were selected for the first BEST project," Jia Dexing, vice president of Wangzi New Materials, told reporters from Securities Times. The holding subsidiary Ningbo Xinrong Electrical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ningbo Xinrong") has maintained good communication with the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In February 2025, Ningbo Xinrong signed a procurement contract to provide energy storage capacitors and support capacitor products for the implementation of the Hefei project in Anhui.
At present, the Hefei project is the fastest-starting device in China. We are the exclusive supplier of capacitors for both Phase I and Phase II, and we just won a bid worth nearly 80 million yuan last week," Jia Dexing revealed. The capacitors for the first section of the project are being delivered continuously, and the second section is expected to start production after the Spring Festival, lasting for about a year. In Jia Dexing's view, the acceleration of research and industrialization in the field of controlled nuclear fusion, coupled with the continuous introduction of policies and increased support at the national level, has brought important opportunities for the development of the industry. "The company will actively participate in controlled nuclear fusion projects.
Huayuan Securities' research report believes that, with the goal of completion in 2027, the current Hefei BEST project is gradually entering a stage of accelerated bidding and construction, and the scale of subsequent bidding is expected to further expand. With the release of bid-winning results, the industrial map of the nuclear fusion supply chain is expected to become clearer.
Enthusiasm for the "artificial sun" still requires "cool thinking
Nowadays, major economies around the world have regarded nuclear fusion as the next-generation strategic energy industry.
Li Jiangang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, revealed that up to now, global fusion investment has shown two main centers: the United States accounts for 53%, and China accounts for 34%. It is understood that nearly 40 countries around the world are promoting fusion plans, with more than 160 fusion devices in operation, under construction or in planning.
It is clearly stated in China's "14th Five-Year Plan" recommendations that we should make forward-looking arrangements for future industries and promote hydrogen energy and nuclear fusion energy to become new economic growth points. China's three major nuclear fusion research devices: the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), the Compact Fusion Energy Test Device (BEST), and the Fusion Reactor Host Key System (CRAFT), have formed a pattern of echelon layout and collaborative research. Among them, as China's next-generation "artificial sun", BEST will strive to light up the "first lamp" of human fusion energy by 2030.
Controlled nuclear fusion can be said to be the most important race in human history." Xue Jian, Deputy Secretary-General of the Youth Scientists Industry-University-Research Innovation Alliance of the China Science and Technology Development Foundation, told reporters bluntly that he had already smelled the "smell of gunpowder" at the 2026 Nuclear Fusion Energy Technology and Industry Conference. "The United States, Japan, and European countries are all betting on controlled nuclear fusion. When it comes to who will light the 'first lamp' of human fusion energy, there is no second place, only first.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, many enterprises have indeed brought their 'real skills' to the conference, including special materials, precision components, and artificial intelligence diagnostic systems. Some booths are crowded with people, and the discussions are not about concepts, but about topics such as 'what is the tolerance' and 'how to measure radiation resistance indicators'." However, Xue Jian also frankly stated that not all enterprises entering this track are ready to "run a marathon".
Fusion does not require ordinary technological transplantation, but rather re-development from the root. If we only pursue hot topics and are unwilling to delve deeply, we may find in a few years that the excitement belongs to others, while the core problems remain unresolved," Xue Jian told reporters. He added that the biggest fear in this industry is "a rush to join in and then a rush to leave," "otherwise, what we gather will not be an industrial chain, but bubbles of an industrial chain.
In the past two years, the number of institutions focusing on nuclear fusion has increased by hundreds of times, which inevitably brings to mind the semiconductor chip boom from 2015 to 2016," said Xue Jian. He believes that while capital can flow in and out quickly, technology must advance step by step. "Of course, having more money is a good thing, but the real question is whether the money can endure loneliness and wait," he further warned, adding that semiconductors have a clear vision of "domestic substitution," while the underlying logic of nuclear fusion investment is mostly built on the sand table of "assuming everything goes smoothly.
Regarding the highly publicized timetable, Xue Jian's view is: we should trust the plan, but not be superstitious about the timeline. He quoted Academician Li Jiangang as saying, "Work steadily and earnestly; we won't fool people.
