Invest 12 billion yuan to develop artificial sun: Ant Group has just entered this field.

If we were to create an "artificial sun" on Earth, would you be surprised? Well, we're already in the process of doing so.

Recently, capital has been invested in multiple "controlled nuclear fusion" companies, and the industry is gaining some popularity. Let's take a few examples.

First, on November 10th, Ant Group led the investment in Xingneng Xuanguang with hundreds of millions of yuan.

Previously, Legend Star led the investment in Andong Fusion with nearly 100 million yuan.

Then there's the giant - China Fusion Energy, which raised 11.492 billion yuan. Among them, China National Nuclear Corporation contributed 4.029 billion yuan.

There are quite a few cases. Since the beginning of this year, the total financing amount in this field has exceeded 12 billion yuan (according to Pencil News DATA).

What is controlled nuclear fusion? It's like creating a "mini - sun" on Earth and making it release energy continuously for us to generate electricity.

This seemingly distant topic has attracted capital and giants. Can it become a profitable business in the future? As entrepreneurs, how should we get involved? Today, this article attempts to clarify these questions.

- 01 -

The founder of Xingneng Xuanguang is Professor Sun Xuan, a person born in the 1970s. He was born in Tongling, Anhui in 1975. He graduated from Southeast University for his undergraduate degree, obtained his master's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China, and completed his doctorate at West Virginia University in the United States in 2000.

Xingneng Xuanguang was founded in 2024, so it's quite young. What's its business? It uses a new technology to create an "artificial sun" (FRC route). Simply put, it aims to build a smaller and cheaper "artificial sun" device.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the old route of the "artificial sun" - the Tokamak toroidal device. It has a drawback: it's large in size, has a long construction period (usually more than a decade), and is extremely costly (often in the tens of billions).

Someone might ask, why do we need to create an "artificial" sun? Is it just for showing off skills? The answer is no.

We must create an "artificial sun". One of the key factors is that nuclear fusion energy is the closest energy source to our ideal for humanity. Currently, more than 80% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas). However, these energy sources are limited and will eventually be depleted.

Wind, solar, and hydro energy are clean, but they are also intermittent. Since they are intermittent, there must be a problem of high energy storage costs.

What should we do? We have to turn to nuclear fusion. Its fuels are deuterium (D) and tritium (T). Tritium can be produced from lithium, which is abundant in the Earth's crust. Deuterium comes from seawater, and there's plenty of seawater. Theoretically, the deuterium extracted from 1 liter of seawater can release energy equivalent to 300 liters of gasoline, and the deuterium in the global oceans can meet human needs for at least billions of years.

Since it's so important, why haven't we succeeded after 70 - 80 years of effort? The answer to this question is like this: we've never been able to cook rice well because we don't have a good pressure cooker.

The same goes for nuclear fusion. The reaction between deuterium and tritium requires very harsh conditions - it can only occur at extremely high temperatures ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of degrees, which is even higher than the temperature of the sun's surface.

How can we create this "pressure cooker"? That's where the "Tokamak toroidal device" mentioned earlier comes in, but it's not perfect. Issues such as economy, energy output, and material durability have prevented nuclear fusion from being commercially viable on a large scale today.

For example, building a "Tokamak toroidal device" can cost more than 20 billion euros. Among them, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is the most expensive project globally. It's not even completed yet and is expected to be operational by 2035.

The emergence of Xingneng Xuanguang is an attempt to solve this problem. It's a new route, but it's just getting started.

In conclusion, we can see that nuclear fusion is still in its very early stages. If we compare it to a power plant, the plant isn't even finished yet, and we don't know if it can generate electricity stably and continuously after completion.

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The key question is: since this technology is still in its early stages, why have capital and giants entered the field? It's because a certain opportunity has arrived.

For such a long - cycle technology, it's natural to make forward - looking arrangements. In the past three years, there have been critical milestones in nuclear fusion.

First, there's progress in experiments.

In December 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States achieved "ignition" for the first time (i.e., the energy released by the fusion reaction was greater than the input laser energy). Although the overall system efficiency is still low, it proves that "it can be achieved physically".

Second, the emergence of high - temperature superconducting magnets. As we mentioned before, the "Tokamak toroidal device" has various problems, such as its large size. High - temperature superconducting magnets can significantly reduce the size of the device and increase the magnetic field strength, making the appearance of a "small device" possible.

Third, the development of AI. A 2023 Nature paper mentioned that AI has begun to be applied to the real - time control of the stability of fusion plasmas, making "control" a reality.

Finally, new players have emerged in large numbers: If I don't enter the field, who will?

A company named FIA conducted a survey this year. As of July 2025, the 53 nuclear fusion companies in its survey had a cumulative financing scale of about $9.7 billion.

More than half of them are from the United States (29 companies), 13 are from Europe, and the rest are from Asia and Oceania.

What's the situation in China? Since 2024, there have been more than 30 financing events.

Some of these domestic companies are engaged in building devices, such as Xinghuan Energy; some are involved in new materials, such as Fuxinli New Materials; and some are focused on commercial applications, such as Fuzhao Renjian.

It's now a critical moment in the global energy competition. Whether it's the government, the industry, or capital, it's time to get involved.

- 03 -

So, when will "controlled nuclear fusion" become a profitable business? We can't just stay in the laboratory forever.

Let's start with the conclusion. Currently, no one in the world can use electricity generated by "controlled nuclear fusion". The most optimistic estimate is that it will take 10 years.

For example, ITER (in France) plans to start experimental energy output after 2035. The same goes for CFS (a spin - off from MIT in the United States), which plans to test grid connection after 2035.

China's "Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST)" and "China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR)" plan to complete engineering prototypes between 2035 and 2040.

Although it's still a long way from "selling electricity", it doesn't mean there are no profit - making opportunities. In fact, many companies have already earned revenues from nuclear fusion, especially in the fields of new materials and core components.

1. "Magnet technology".

Tokamak Energy, a British company, stated on its official website and in external announcements that its TE Magnetics business, launched in 2024, is already in operation and generating millions of pounds in revenue.

It's worth noting that the magnet system is one of the "heart components" of a fusion device.

2. Wires.

MetOx, an American high - temperature superconducting wire company, has received a large - scale grant from the US Department of Energy and has repeatedly disclosed its plans for production expansion and commercial delivery. Public information shows that the company already has a certain number of customers.

3. Technology and engineering companies that help clients build fusion devices.

According to Forbes and public information, General Atomics has an annual revenue of billions of dollars (around $3 billion in recent years). The company has long provided engineering, magnet, and diagnostic systems for devices such as ITER and DIII - D.

What's the specific situation in China? It's similar. The areas where orders are generated are also in core materials, core components and equipment, and engineering construction.

Material companies include Western Superconducting Technologies, Yongding Co., Ltd., and Jingda Co., Ltd. Core equipment manufacturers include Hefei Forging Press Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., Lianchuang Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., and Guoguang Electric Co., Ltd. Engineering construction and system integration companies include China Nuclear Engineering Group Corporation and Shanghai Electric Group Co., Ltd.

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So, what areas are capital interested in? They may not be interested in companies that can get orders immediately. Instead, they're more interested in those "fishing for big fish with a long - term plan" (companies engaged in R & D).

First are the upstream companies using new technologies to build devices.

Their core value isn't "building existing devices" but "defining future commercially viable fusion devices".

For example, Energy Singularity in China and CFS in the United States focus on researching and developing Tokamak devices. Xingneng Xuanguang in China focuses on researching and developing the FRC device with a new route.

Second is the mid - stream: the integration and assembly of core devices.

After the core technology is verified, they will lead the design, integration, and assembly of "engineered devices". They don't produce all the components themselves but integrate products from upstream suppliers of superconducting materials, plasma - facing materials, and precision instruments to assemble a complete fusion experimental reactor or demonstration reactor.

For example, the BEST device led by Fusion New Energy will purchase superconducting wires from Western Superconducting Technologies and divertor materials from Advanced Technology & Materials Co., Ltd. Then, through its own technology integration, it will build a complete device capable of achieving fusion reactions. It's the "core hub" of the industrial chain.

Third is the downstream: the providers of commercial energy.

Their ultimate goal is to be "fusion power plant operators" or "providers of complete power plant solutions". After the demonstration reactor technology matures, they will build commercial fusion power plants in batches, directly "sell electricity" to the power grid, or provide complete power plant equipment and technical services to energy companies.

Currently, the main problems with controlled nuclear fusion are still in the "scientific" realm. However, in the next three years, scientific problems will give way to engineering and commercialization, and it will enter a critical stage.

Perhaps within 15 years, a batch of "artificial suns" will start working for us globally.

This article does not constitute any investment advice.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Pencil News" (ID: pencilnews), written by "Honest One", and published by 36Kr with authorization.