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China’s completion of the largest superconducting magnet ever built for a fusion reactor strengthens its bid to produce commercial fusion energy by 2030 as the United States and private technology companies increase their own investments in the field.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
China has completed and tested a 582-ton superconducting magnet designed to help confine plasma inside a future fusion reactor, marking a major step in Beijing’s effort to develop what is often described as an “artificial sun” and establish an early lead in the global competition for fusion power.
The doughnut-shaped component was manufactured entirely in China and tested June 27 at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei. It is the largest superconducting magnet constructed for a fusion reactor and represents a critical part of China’s plan to achieve fusion power by 2030, Forbes reported Tuesday.
Fusion reactors seek to reproduce the process that powers the sun by combining atomic nuclei under extreme heat and pressure. Scientists must first develop a way to keep superheated plasma stable and suspended without allowing it to touch and damage the walls of the reactor.
The newly tested Chinese magnet is intended to produce the intense magnetic fields required to confine that plasma, one of the central engineering problems preventing fusion from becoming a commercially viable source of electricity.
China’s achievement comes as rising electricity consumption is forcing governments, utilities and technology companies to search for dependable power supplies capable of operating around the clock. Artificial intelligence, data centers, advanced manufacturing and other electricity-intensive industries are adding urgency to that effort.
Energy public policy analyst David Blackmon questioned both the practicality and risks of China’s plan.
“So, what could possibly go wrong with this plan by China to create an artificial sun?” Blackmon told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It makes the various plans pushed by Bill Gates and others to block the sun by spewing millions of tons of chemicals into the atmosphere look positively sane by comparison.”
Fusion plasma must reach temperatures many times hotter than the center of the sun while remaining contained within a magnetic field.
“If holding an enormous mass of burning plasma heated to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the sun in mid-air is the best way to achieve nuclear fusion, then perhaps the world would be wiser to stick with nuclear fission as the preferred technology,” Blackmon said.
Although China began pursuing fusion later than some Western countries, Forbes reported that Beijing is now at least a decade ahead based on government development timelines.
Large superconducting magnets for fusion projects have historically required as long as 10 years to move from initial design through final testing. China completed that process in roughly six years.
“The only positive news out of this development is that no country other than China possesses the means to mount a similar project via materials and supply chains that are 100% domestic,” Blackmon told the DCNF.
Chinese officials said the project demonstrates that the country no longer depends on foreign suppliers for the magnet’s principal materials, production methods or safety systems.
“From core raw materials such as superconducting tapes, high-strength cryogenic stainless steel and special insulation materials, to the complete set of processes including structural design, precision winding, ultra-low-resistance joint fabrication and quench protection, we have completely broken foreign technological monopolies and achieved 100 percent localization, eliminating the risk of core components being subject to chokepoints,” Song Yuntao, director-general of the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times, a Chinese state-backed publication.
The magnet is part of a broader Chinese fusion program that includes the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, commonly known as EAST.
Western projects have faced longer schedules and repeated delays. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor under construction in France is not expected to become operational until 2034.
No country has yet operated a commercial fusion power plant, despite decades of research and promises that the technology could eventually deliver large quantities of dependable, carbon-free electricity.
China’s new magnet nevertheless places it among the leading contenders to overcome the scientific and engineering barriers that have kept fusion from reaching the electrical grid.
Other countries and companies are simultaneously experimenting with technologies intended to satisfy rapidly increasing energy demand. In Chile, Contour Energy recently launched construction of a solar and battery-storage project intended to provide electricity after sunset.
That development is located near mining operations and proposed data centers, where demand is expected to remain high, and illustrates the wider search for systems that can supply power beyond the hours when renewable generation is available.
The United States has also expanded government support for domestic fusion research. The Department of Energy announced $134 million in February 2026 for two programs designed to connect private fusion developers with national laboratories and universities.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, DOE is unleashing the next frontier of American energy,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in the announcement. “Fusion power holds the promise of limitless, reliable, American-made energy—and programs like INFUSE and FIRE ensure our innovators have the tools, talent, and partnerships to make it a reality.”
Major technology companies are also backing fusion developers as they seek new sources of electricity for artificial intelligence and data centers.
Microsoft signed what was described as the industry’s first fusion power purchase agreement, committing to buy electricity from Helion Energy’s planned power plant in Washington state beginning in 2028.
Google has invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems and TAE Technologies and entered a 200-megawatt agreement to purchase electricity from Commonwealth Fusion’s proposed commercial facility in Virginia.
That plant is scheduled to begin operating during the 2030s.
Nvidia participated in Commonwealth Fusion’s latest financing round, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is Helion’s largest individual investor.
The involvement of those companies reflects the close connection between the fusion race and the energy requirements of the artificial intelligence industry.
“If you care about AI, if you care about energy leadership … you have to make investments into fusion,” Fusion Industry Association CEO Andrew Holland told CNBC. “This is something that if the United States doesn’t lead on, then China will.”
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