Fusion and China’s Quest for Energy Independence

China already dominates clean energy supply chains for wind and solar, and is fast becoming the world leader in nuclear fission. Now China is going all in on developing the ultimate energy source: fusion—the process that powers the sun—which promises abundant, carbon-free electricity.

In the United States, the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) has highlighted the dynamism of America’s privately led fusion sector, with dozens of startups, billions in investment, and rapid technical progress. But while attention is rightly focused on innovative private U.S. firms like Commonwealth Fusion and Pacific Fusion, China’s growing fusion ecosystem—which blends state-led research, commercial ventures, and dual-use platforms—is often not well understood. That blind spot could prove costly.

Aspects of Chinese fusion energy research also underpin national security, as it does for the United States. China views fusion energy as a strategic breakthrough that can drive scientific innovation, enhance energy self-sufficiency, and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels. By mastering fusion, China aims to secure long-term energy security and overall self-sufficiency while positioning itself at the forefront of next-generation physics, clean energy, and weapons technologies.

Developing fusion is also consistent with Xi Jinping’s broader push for technological self-reliance, calling for breakthroughs in “original and leading technologies” and stressing that “self-reliance in science and technology is the foundation of national strength and the key to security” (科技自立自强是国家强盛之基、安全之要). That framing underscores how Beijing views fusion: not just as clean energy, but as a strategic technology with deep implications for both industrial competitiveness and military science.

Building a National Fusion Energy Ecosystem

China’s fusion energy program is positioned as the third phase of its official “thermal reactor–fast reactor–fusion reactor” (热堆–快堆–聚变堆) nuclear development strategy, a national roadmap first articulated in the early 1980s to guide the long-term evolution of its civilian nuclear energy system. Fusion energy technology is explicitly prioritized in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, which names controllable nuclear fusion and magnetic confinement tokamak research as key “strategic frontier” directions. Fusion also appears in numerous Chinese science, technology, and energy sector policies and roadmaps. China has also consistently funded a number of long-running research and development (R&D) programs in all aspects of fusion energy development through the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). It is also likely that the new Central Science and Technology Commission is playing a role in coordinating overall efforts.

Yet alongside the scientific ambitions, China’s fusion program also carries a subtler but critical dimension: the growing convergence between civilian and military goals. Several of China’s most advanced fusion initiatives—particularly in laser and pulsed-power Z-pinch inertial confinement—are led by China’s nuclear weapons research lab, use technologies long associated with nuclear weapons simulation, and operate under a civil-military fusion model that is rarely acknowledged publicly but visible in plain sight.

China is also fostering a nascent but growing number of state-backed fusion companies, and has established a new commercial fusion industry alliance. This hybrid model—central planning, commercial competition, and military alignment—gives China a diversified and resilient pathway to fusion. With high temperature superconducting (HTS) tokamaks, inertial lasers, Z-pinch hybrids, and compact field-reversed configuration (FRC) reactors all in development, the country is building not just a reactor, but an entire fusion ecosystem.

Magnetic Confinement: State Anchors, Commercial Speed

Superconducting tokamaks are advanced magnetic fusion devices capable of sustaining long-pulse, high-temperature plasmas, and are central to China’s roadmap for developing steady-state fusion power through projects like EAST, the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), and experimental stellarator designs. China’s magnetic confinement program remains anchored in state institutions. The flagship EAST tokamak, run by the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), set a global record in 2025 by sustaining a plasma at over 100 million degrees Celsius for more than 1,000 seconds. In parallel, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) Southwest Institute of Physics operates the HL-2M and HL-3 tokamaks, with HL-3 recently reaching over 100 million degrees Celsius using spherical confinement—a record for China.

China’s BEST (Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak) project, led by the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, is a new next-generation fusion facility currently under construction. When operational, BEST hopes to achieve steady-state high-performance plasma and validate technologies critical for future tokamak reactors. China’s next major step is CFETR, a demonstration power plant (DEMO)-scale fusion reactor expected to enter construction by the late 2020s. According to a 2024 Chinese Academy of Engineering report, China should “timely construct and operate [CFETR] to achieve the strategic goal of commercial energy supply by 2040” (适时建成并运行CFETR，实现2040年商业供能的战略目标).

At the same time, China’s magnetic fusion ecosystem now includes a growing layer of private players. Firms like Energy Singularity (能量奇点), HHMAX-Energy (瀚海聚能), and StarTorus Fusion (星环聚能) are developing HTS tokamaks and FRCs, often backed by a mix of government-backed venture funding and state capital. Energy Singularity claims to have built a 21.7-tesla HTS magnet—surpassing some U.S. benchmarks—and plans a demonstration tokamak that can produce a fusion output greater than 10 times its heating power input by 2027. While China’s commercial fusion sector is small and nascent compared to the United States’, it is poised for growth, especially now that China has set up a new $138 billion national venture capital fund.

Civil-Military Fusion: Lasers, Z-Pinch, and the Shadow of the Bomb

While China’s tokamak line receives most media attention, China’s less-visible fusion efforts may be even more consequential—especially those linked to nuclear weapons science. High-energy-density physics (HEDP)—the study of matter under extreme temperature and pressure, is a foundational component of nuclear warhead design, validation, and simulation. It is also key for the underlying physics of nuclear fusion. Fusion platforms like laser inertial confinement fusion (ICF), which uses high-powered lasers to compress fuel pellets, and pulsed-power ICF, which relies on massive electrical currents to generate fusion conditions, allow China to pursue this research outside the constraints of nuclear testing. Both laser and pulsed-power ignition are also viable approaches to create sustainable fusion energy, with the laser-based U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieving scientific net gain and the Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine demonstrating record-breaking fusion-relevant pressures and neutron yields.

The China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), long known as the country’s principal weapons design lab, leads China’s laser and pulsed-power ICF programs. These include the Shenguang (SG or 神光) laser series, the Qiangguang (强光) pulsed-power machines, and the Julong (聚龙) series of Z-pinch devices. Most notably, CAEP is now building a next-generation laser facility, Shenguang-IV in Mianyang, modeled on the U.S. NIF but scaled up to enhanced Chinese design parameters. Satellite imagery suggests the facility will exceed NIF’s energy delivery and could serve as a platform for both energy R&D and weapons science. As one 2024 China physics review explains, China’s ICF’s primary near- and mid-term goal is to “simulate nuclear explosions in the laboratory and advance frontier high-energy-density physics” (惯性约束聚变的近中期目的是为了核爆炸的实验室模拟研究和高能量密度物理的前沿研究).

CAEP is also driving China’s Z-pinch fusion and weapons effects testing efforts. Physicist Peng Xianjue (彭先觉), a senior designer of China’s hydrogen bomb, now leads development of a 50 million-ampere (MA) pulsed-power device, and a hybrid fusion–fission reactor called Z-FFR. A 2024 strategic review called for “accelerating the construction of large-scale electromagnetic scientific devices” and maturing Z-FFR fusion technology for demonstration and commercialization (尽快建设大型电磁驱动科学装置，开展ZFFR关键聚变技术研究，推动工程验证和商业化). A prototype 50 MA Z-pinch machine now has formal approval under the 14th Five-Year Plan, underscoring Beijing’s commitment to high-energy-density fusion platforms with clear military relevance, especially as China expands and modernizes its strategic nuclear arsenal.

These new laser and pulsed-power facilities will be critical for certifying and safeguarding China’s vast nuclear weapons modernization program. Developing hundreds of new warheads and a diverse range of warhead designs and delivery platforms, will require advanced weapons effects simulation and testing capabilities—only made possible by supercomputer codes validated with pulsed power and laser ignition facilities. These facilities, likely exceeding the U.S. versions in terms of output yield, could help China close the “test gap” with the United States, and may reduce any immediate need for underground nuclear testing. Ultimately, CAEP’s new facilities will enable China to become a global leader in nuclear weapons and fusion energy science, unlocking new physics domains and pathways to develop advanced next-generation weapons and fusion energy. Meanwhile, the United States has neglected its own relevant HEDP programs—with no plan for any investments in the near and medium term—and will be left with aging, outdated infrastructure.

Focus on Supply Chains

Similar to other energy supply-chains including solar, wind, and nuclear fission, China is also rapidly constructing a national fusion energy supply chain that integrates advanced research, engineering, and industrial capabilities. In Shanghai, the Magneto-Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy System Key Physics Technology Project, led by the Shanghai University of Science and Technology, is developing components and materials for hybrid magnetic inertial confinement techniques. Meanwhile, Hefei has emerged as a major fusion hub with two flagship facilities: the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology, which focuses on superconducting magnets and divertor systems, and the Hefei International Applied Superconductivity Center, which supports the industrialization of high-field superconducting technologies. These platforms are designed to bridge the gap between experimental science and scalable reactor engineering.

In western China, Mianyang’s Youxian District (绵阳市游仙区) which is home to CAEP, has become a key node in China’s laser fusion ecosystem, hosting an industrial park that supports laser ignition technologies and high-energy-density physics applications. China also leads in the production of capacitors and pulsed-power components—critical technologies for Z-pinch inertial confinement systems—thanks to a robust electronics manufacturing base. This coordinated build-out of fusion-enabling infrastructure reflects a strategic effort not only to achieve technological breakthroughs, but also to develop the engineering and supply chain capacity necessary for future commercial deployment.

Strategic Stakes and the Path Ahead

Fusion is more than a clean energy moonshot. It’s a strategic technology that touches energy security, defense modernization, and global industrial leadership. In China, the institutions driving fusion—MOST, CAS, CNNC, and CAEP—also underpin the nation’s broader civil-military science complex and are interwoven into China’s weapons development ecosystem. The risk isn’t just that China gets to fusion power first—it’s that fusion R&D advances capabilities in simulation, neutron generation, and weapons physics long before any electricity ever hits the grid. The United States too should think more strategically about how to merge its commercial fusion and national security interests with better public-private partnerships.

While U.S. private firms currently lead in fusion innovation, this is a long race, one better suited, in many ways, to patient long-term capital. China may ultimately have advantages in scaling infrastructure, controlling supply chains, and building large scientific machines without the friction of fragmented budgeting or regulatory delays. The United States doesn’t yet have a comprehensive national fusion strategy or dedicated federal funding, and without action, it risks ceding ground in a long-term race with China that rewards sustained investment, scale, and coordination.

Fusion’s promise is real. So is the possibility of falling behind.

Jimmy Goodrich is an IGCC nonresident fellow. The views expressed by the author are his own and do not reflect those of any organization with which he is affiliated.

Thumbnail credit: Institute of Plasma Physics at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences