{"text":[[{"start":7,"text":"China is famous for throwing money at industries it wants to develop, and one of the latest to get that distinction is nuclear fusion – a process that promises to deliver huge amounts of electricity at cheap prices by mimicking the process used in the sun. That campaign for fusion energy has taken on greater urgency with the rise of AI, which is a huge consumer of electricity."}],[{"start":28.6,"text":"But the latest fusion energy project coming out of China Inc. isn’t state funded at all, and instead is being financed by some of the nation’s top private equity and venture capital investors, including Hillhouse Capital, Legend Capital and Luminous Ventures, formerly known as Lightspeed Capital. That company, NovaFusion Energy Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., also known as NovaFusionX, made headlines last week when it announced a new funding round worth 700 million yuan ($103 million)."}],[{"start":57.900000000000006,"text":"The latest funding comes after NovaFusionX raised an initial 500 million yuan last August, bringing its total fundraising to 1.2 billion yuan in just a year after its founding – a record fundraising speed for a fusion-related startup in China. No valuations have been given, but the backing of such major players indicates NovaFusionX may be China’s strongest private sector player to emerge so far in the nuclear fusion space."}],[{"start":85.85000000000001,"text":"That’s not to say that NovaFusionX is the only player in China. Most notably, state-owned giant China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) launched its own nuclear fusion company, China Fusion Energy Co. Ltd., last July, with a hefty 11.5 billion yuan in initial funding. That initiative looks like the major fusion play by “Team China,” with backing from the likes of state-run oil major PetroChina, as well as the state-backed National Green Development Fund and Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power Co."}],[{"start":118.95000000000002,"text":"Apart from its strong support from China’s domestic private equity community, NovaFusionX is also notable for counting a fund connected to internet giant Meituan among its backers. That’s quite significant, as such internet majors are also aggressively developing AI applications, making them likely customers for the massive amounts of cheap electricity that nuclear fusion will produce."}],[{"start":142.3,"text":"Something similar is happening in the U.S., where nuclear fusion development is more advanced. Google is one of the biggest backers of such energy, investing in TAE Technologies, one of the oldest players in the space with a history dating back to 1998. Google has also agreed to buy future fusion-generated power produced by another player in the race, Commonwealth Fusion Systems. Microsoft is throwing its weight behind another player, agreeing to buy future fusion-generated electricity from Helion Energy."}],[{"start":174.55,"text":"While China is coming somewhat late to the game, NovaFusionX is off to a strong start in no small part due to its founder Guo Houyang, whose credentials were almost certainly a major factor attracting its A-list of backers. Guo previously conducted nuclear fusion research in the U.S. at the University of Washington, and was a fellow of the American Physical Society. He boasts similarly impressive credentials in China, where he worked at the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is among a group of prominent overseas-trained Chinese scientists who have returned to China to pursue careers under a government sponsored program."}],[{"start":212.85000000000002,"text":"Modular reactors"}],[{"start":214.55,"text":"Each fusion company has its own technology, which must be capable of containing the extremely hot temperatures of around 100 million degrees Celsius needed for nuclear fusion to occur on Earth. NovaFusionX is aiming to develop a type of technology called field-inverse small modular reactors (FRC-SMR), which generate electricity in relatively smaller amounts for onsite use, in contrast to other technologies built around a model that uses industrial-sized plants similar to today’s massive power generating stations."}],[{"start":246.85000000000002,"text":"NovaFusionX says Guo Houyang was a pioneer in FRC-SMR technology, and other reports note that he previously coordinated China-U.S. fusion research on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. The company’s prototype generator, the Nova One, is currently in the engineering construction phase, and it is aiming to achieve its first discharge of plasma – the ultra-hot state of matter where fusion occurs – by the end of this year."}],[{"start":274.20000000000005,"text":"While all of this sounds promising, NovaFusionX will be reliant on more investment dollars for quite some time to come, as will most of its peers. If all goes according to plan, which is hardly guaranteed, the company aims to commercialize its technology by the mid-2030s, with a target of providing power at the 50 MW to 100 MW level per individual station."}],[{"start":296.90000000000003,"text":"Its relative youth means that many new funding rounds still lie ahead for NovFusionX, whose $175 million raised so far still looks quite modest compared to most of its peers. By comparison, Commonwealth leads the field with $3 billion raised to date, while TAE Technology and Helion have both raised more than $1 billion, not to mention the $1.6 billion raised by the state-backed China Fusion Energy Co. Ltd. at the time of its establishment last year."}],[{"start":327.1,"text":"All this comes as funding for nuclear fusion is likely to accelerate as the technology moves closer to commercialization. Fusion developers raised $2.2 billion worldwide last year, up 180% from 2024, though behind the record $2.9 billion raised in 2022, according to the Fusion Industry Association."}],[{"start":349.40000000000003,"text":"All that said, it’s not too early to think about when these companies will start becoming available to small investors through IPOs. While most aren’t aiming to commercialize their technology until the 2030s, losing money has never been a disqualifier for a public listing, especially in a hot area receiving growing attention due to its supporting role for the rise of a new AI era."}],[{"start":371.6,"text":"The most advanced of the major players in that regard is TAE Technologies, which last December announced a plan to merge with Donald Trump’s Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT.US), the owner of Truth Social where Trump usually posts his copious messages. None of the others have announced IPO plans, though all are probably thinking about listing if they can survive over the next few years by raising more cash from private investors."}],[{"start":398.20000000000005,"text":"For now, at least, NovaFusionX appears to have enough private sector backing to keep fueling its nuclear fusion dreams for at least the next two or three years. But if the Hong Kong and China IPO markets are still hot at that time, and the AI story continues to gain momentum, it’s quite possible we could see the company take a shot at a multibillion-dollar listing in Hong Kong, Shanghai or Shenzhen before 2030."}],[{"start":432.40000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1776742112_9234.mp3"}