Led by an academician and invested by institutions such as Lenovo, "Antong Fusion" has completed its first-round financing of nearly 100 million yuan | Exclusive from 36Kr
Text | Zhang Bingbing
Editor | A Zhi
36Kr learned that Anton Fusion (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Anton Fusion") recently announced the completion of its first-round financing of nearly 100 million yuan. It was invested by Lenovo Star, Qifu Capital, Pangu Venture Capital, Daoyi Capital, and Tsinghua Alumni Fund. The funds will be used for the establishment of a cutting-edge talent echelon, the research and development of the fusion driver system, and the construction of experimental systems and testing platforms.
Founded in November 2022, "Anton Fusion" is the first domestic commercialization team for Z-pinch fusion. It is committed to accelerating the promotion of the Z-pinch energy technology solution, developing controllable nuclear fusion drive technology equipment and systems, and providing strong support for the later design, construction, and commercial power generation.
Peng Xianjue, the chief scientist of "Anton Fusion", is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a nuclear energy expert. He has long been engaged in nuclear fusion research and proposed the "Z-pinch fusion-fission hybrid reactor" energy technology solution for the first time globally. The Z-pinch driver is a core component of its energy solution, which is directly related to the applicability of the energy solution.
The team members of "Anton Fusion" come from the State Grid, China National Nuclear Corporation, Tsinghua University, etc. Currently, they are conducting research and development on the fusion driver system equipment (for long-life repetitive frequency operation). The goal is to build a four-channel demonstration system (with a repetitive operation life of one million cycles) in about three years and have the ability to build a 60MA large-scale driver in about five years. The future goal is to achieve a repetitive operation life of the driver of more than ten million times, providing key support for the construction of a Z-pinch energy demonstration project in 2035 and grid-connected power generation in 2040.
I. Controllable Nuclear Fusion Enters the First Year of Commercialization
Controllable nuclear fusion is the key to solving humanity's future energy problems. In September this year, the "Atomic Energy Law of the People's Republic of China" was officially promulgated, clearly stating that "the state encourages and supports scientific research and technological development of controlled thermonuclear fusion." In October, Germany passed the "Germany's Path to Fusion Power Plants" action plan. By 2029, it will cumulatively invest more than 2 billion euros in this field to fund relevant research and support the construction of research infrastructure and technology demonstration devices. Recently, the U.S. Fusion Industry Association released a fusion white paper, suggesting that fusion be defined as a national security matter and serve as the focus of energy technology competition in the next era. It also specified that more than two industry-led demonstration power plants will start construction before 2028.
In addition, technology giants continue to increase their investment in the controllable nuclear fusion industry. At the beginning of this year, the commercial fusion company Helion Energy announced the completion of a new round of financing of $425 million. It had previously reached a power purchase agreement with Microsoft and plans to supply power to a 50-megawatt fusion power plant starting in 2028. In June, the nuclear fusion energy startup CFS announced a strategic partnership with Google and signed a 200-megawatt commercial power supply agreement. In August, CFS received $863 million in financing, with investors including NVIDIA, Google, and other companies.
This key area has also attracted the attention of the domestic capital market. According to IT Juzi data, as of July this year, there were 19 public investment events in the fusion track, with 12 companies receiving investment, and the total financing amount exceeded 10 billion yuan. "This year is the year when Chinese controllable nuclear fusion companies were intensively established and received financing. From this perspective, this year can be called the first year of commercialization of controllable nuclear fusion in China." Liu Cheng, the CEO of "Anton Fusion", analyzed that from a technical perspective, controllable nuclear fusion is still some distance away from scientific research success and industrial maturity. At present, many commercial companies are founded by people who previously engaged in nuclear fusion technology research in universities and research institutes, hoping to accelerate the development of controllable nuclear fusion technology through commercial means.
The industry estimates that it will take 10 - 15 years for the controllable nuclear fusion technology to mature, and the key difficulties lie in achieving "energy gain" and "controllability."
Simply put, the nuclear fusion reaction is to completely ionize gas molecules into high-temperature plasma through a high-temperature and high-pressure environment of hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius, allowing lighter positively charged atomic nuclei to overcome the electric repulsion and undergo a fusion reaction, releasing huge energy.
Controllable nuclear fusion is to generate high-temperature plasma and confine it in a specific space, allowing the fusion reaction to occur continuously. At the same time, it controls the fusion reaction process or reaction scale to achieve energy gain and produce sustainable clean energy. The most typical controllable nuclear fusion energy system in the universe is the sun. Inside the sun, a fusion reaction occurs in a high-temperature and high-pressure environment, releasing energy. Then, through its own huge mass and gravity, it confines the nuclear fuel together, forming a stable energy output.
Gravitational confinement nuclear fusion only exists in the universe, and humans cannot use gravity to confine high-temperature and high-pressure plasma. Currently, the mainstream research on nuclear fusion confinement routes is divided into two major categories - inertial confinement and magnetic confinement.
Inertial confinement uses high-power energy to bombard the fuel pellet instantaneously. Through design, it compresses the pellet to a high-temperature and high-density state, triggering nuclear fusion. Due to the confinement of inertial mass, a certain amount of energy can be released. Magnetic confinement uses a special-shaped strong magnetic field to construct a "cage" to confine high-temperature and low-density plasma for a long time, thereby achieving nuclear fusion energy release.
II. An Economical, Efficient, and Technically Feasible Controllable Nuclear Fusion Route
The "Z" in Z-pinch indicates that the current passing through the plasma loaded by the metal sleeve is axial (in the Z direction). A large current forms an azimuthal magnetic field, and the plasma will move towards the axis core direction (pinch) due to the Lorentz force generated by its own magnetic field, manifested as the compression and implosion of the loaded plasma (electromagnetic implosion). When the high-speed moving (hundreds of kilometers per second) plasma encounters matter, it will be braked, and its kinetic energy will be converted into the internal energy of the matter and X-ray energy. The X-rays can then be used to trigger the fusion of the fusion pellet.
"In layman's terms, Z-pinch is the 'artificial lightning' technology. In essence, it generates a magnetic field through a pulsed large current and then triggers the implosion of the plasma through the magnetic field. A large amount of high-intensity X-ray radiation will be generated during the target impact process." Liu Cheng introduced. Therefore, the U.S. academic community has recently begun to call it pulsed magnetic field inertial confinement. This route is younger and more novel than previous confinement routes.
With the goal of commercial power generation through controllable nuclear fusion, the controllable nuclear fusion route also needs to consider factors such as technical implementation difficulty, commercialization difficulty, safety, and economic potential. The advantages of "Anton Fusion" in achieving its commercialization goal through the Z-pinch route are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
In terms of technical difficulty, the Z-pinch route generates "artificial lightning" through the discharge of high-voltage pulse capacitors, triggering fusion ignition and large-scale energy release. The technology is simpler and more direct, with high energy conversion efficiency, sufficient energy supply, and low cost. Compared with other technical routes, the fusion drive device required by the Z-pinch route is more "robust" and reliable, suitable for commercial applications. In addition, the development of pulsed power technology in recent years has enabled the driver that generates "artificial lightning" to operate at a high repetition frequency for a long time, making continuous fusion power generation and grid connection possible.
In terms of commercialization difficulty, the core is large-scale production, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement. In the industry, it requires a fully reliable supply chain, high yield, low cost, sufficient mass production capacity, and simple and feasible implementation processes. Analyzing from these aspects, "Anton Fusion" can give full play to its advantages in physical design, rely on China's industrial chain capabilities in the fields of energy storage, power, and manufacturing, and play the role of industrial ecosystem synergy, which can accelerate the process of commercial power generation through controllable nuclear fusion.
Overall, the Z-pinch energy system has inherent safety features, good economic performance, can make full use of nuclear energy resources, provide energy supply for ten thousand years, support the development of thermal reactors and renewable energy, and is environmentally friendly. There are currently no insurmountable obstacles, and it can enter the engineering verification and technology demonstration stage. If implemented smoothly, it is expected to enable China to enter the era of fusion energy application first.
III. Collaboration of the "Old, Middle, and Young" Three-Generation Scientific Research Talent System to Accelerate the Commercialization Process of Controllable Nuclear Fusion
Realizing "fusion ignition and large-scale energy release" is an important basis for judging the feasibility of various controllable nuclear fusion paths. The core indicator is to achieve an energy gain factor Qeng > 1, which means that the output energy is greater than the input energy, and nuclear fusion can potentially become an energy system. Public information shows that currently, only the U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF) has successfully "ignited," achieving Qsci > 1 at the scientific level.
"Currently, no route has reached the engineering or system level of Qeng > 1, which is sufficient to show that fusion energy itself is very difficult." Liu Cheng believes that the Z-pinch route is fully capable of achieving Qeng > 1 within 5 - 8 years.
With this as the goal, "Anton Fusion" started with the repetitive frequency drive system for fusion and has completed the physical design and implementation plan of the overall system. In terms of equipment, a series of equipment development work will be carried out, including the basic discharge unit "Kui Niu," the integrated discharge module "Lei Zhenzi," the high-power drive device "Thor," and the fusion-level driver system "Thunderbolt."
According to the plan, "Anton Fusion" will complete the construction of Lei Zhenzi by the end of this year; launch a miniaturized Thor series model next year; and further develop Thunderbolt based on Thor from 2027 - 2028. "We hope to achieve the first-stage goal around 2030, building the technical capabilities of the fusion drive system and the mass production capabilities of core device products. After that, we will further improve the performance of the drive system to lay a solid foundation for the engineering and commercialization of Z-pinch energy." Liu Cheng summarized.
The overall R & D team of "Anton Fusion" comes from world - class universities, research institutes, and large central state - owned enterprises. The entire team has many years of research experience in Z-pinch, pulsed power, and ignition technology and has long been deeply involved in the research and application of the "artificial lightning" technology. To complete the relatively long - term technical and commercialization journey, "Anton Fusion" has constructed a "old, middle, and young" three - generation scientific research talent system:
Academician Peng Xianjue, as a world - top nuclear science and engineering scientist, determines the overall technical path and strategic planning direction and is the iconic soul figure of "Anton Fusion." Middle - generation scientists represented by Yang Qingwei, who have the experience of being the chief engineer of the HL - 2M Tokamak project, coordinate the implementation of scientific and technological projects and system integration. Young scientists such as CEO Liu Cheng are the main force in the front - line battle, responsible for the development of system devices and commercialization implementation.
In terms of commercialization planning, on the one hand, "Anton Fusion" will make long - term investments, focusing on breakthroughs in controllable nuclear fusion energy technology and equipment; on the other hand, it will explore the development of more compact accelerators for applications in nuclear waste treatment, special isotope production, radiotherapy, etc., striving to achieve commercial revenue as soon as possible.
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This article is from the WeChat public account "36Kr Future Industries." The authors are Zhang Bingbing and A Zhi. It is published by 36Kr with permission.