"Battle for the Sun": A New Opportunity for Anhui?

According to Anhui News Broadcast, on August 25, Wang Qingxian, the governor of Anhui Province, conducted a research on the future industry of fusion energy in Hefei. He emphasized seizing the critical window period of fusion energy technology breakthrough, adhering to leading industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation, and accelerating the pace of engineering, industrialization, and commercialization of fusion energy.

During the research, Wang Qingxian chaired a symposium to listen to the opinions and suggestions of academicians, experts, and entrepreneurs. He pointed out that it is necessary to deeply understand the global competition pattern of fusion energy, base on Anhui's advantages, strengthen and make good use of the national strategic scientific and technological strength, continuously promote the research on key technologies, and form a systematic competitive advantage. It is necessary to promote the in - depth integration of government, industry, academia, research, finance, application, and service, build an innovation carrier for full - chain incubation and transformation, and gather innovation and industrial resources to a greater extent. It is necessary to focus on cultivating the fusion energy industrial cluster, systematically sort out the technology projects of "laying eggs along the way", accurately carry out scenario docking and "attracting investment and talents", and accelerate the formation of industrial agglomeration effects. It is necessary to deepen the innovation of the institutional mechanism, stimulate market vitality through reform, attract more social capital to participate, and promote the mutual empowerment of science and technology, industry, and capital.

Fusion energy, known as the "artificial sun", has many advantages such as abundant fuel, safety and reliability, environmental friendliness, high energy density, and obvious economic efficiency. It is regarded as the most ideal "ultimate energy" for humanity.

Currently, major countries around the world have begun to actively promote the commercial development of controlled nuclear fusion. According to the "2025 Global Fusion Industry Report" released by the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) in July this year, the total investment in the global fusion industry has reached 9.766 billion US dollars so far, an increase of more than 414% compared with 2021. Large technology companies such as Microsoft have joined the race, and a global "race to pursue the sun" has begun.

In recent years, nuclear fusion has been included in the key layout of China's future industries. For example, the "Opinions on Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality" and the "Action Plan for Carbon Peak before 2030" clearly require actively promoting the research on controlled nuclear fusion technology.

In 2024, seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of Future Industries", clearly proposing to strengthen the research on key core technologies of future energy represented by nuclear fusion. This policy signal is also regarded as "sounding the clarion call for China's controlled nuclear fusion to move towards practical application".

In this competition related to the future energy pattern, Anhui and Hefei have obvious advantages. As a comprehensive national science center, relying on major national scientific and technological infrastructure such as EAST and BEST, Hefei has become the city with the most concentrated large - scale scientific facilities in the global nuclear fusion field.

Previously, Anhui clearly stated that it would actively build three high - tech innovation leading highlands of "quantum information, fusion energy, and deep - space exploration". In the "6 + 5+X" industrial cluster in Hefei, fusion energy is precisely the new track of future industries that Hefei focuses on. Currently, more than 70 enterprises in the fusion energy industry chain have gathered in Hefei, covering the entire industrial chain from the production of upstream superconducting wires, the manufacturing of mid - stream main equipment and engineering construction, to the downstream design and operation.

As the development window period of fusion energy arrives, Anhui has begun to look forward to "lighting the first lamp of fusion energy".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory", and is published by 36Kr with authorization.