Ambrose: The ultimate American nightmare: China is winning the fusion energy race
Beijing’s Manhattan Project promises to obliterate the existing global energy order
Beijing is replicating the same strategy it used to wipe out global rivals in solar panels, lithium batteries, critical minerals and electric vehicles.
China had deployed upwards of $10bn (£7bn) to $13bn since 2023 in a systematic attempt to capture the family of specialist industries that will underpin the rollout of fusion power plants at scale.
That figure is more than the rest of the world combined over the same period – probably by a large margin.
“Their facilities are so big you can literally see them from space,” said Bob Mumgaard, the chief executive of Commonwealth Fusion, the West’s frontrunner in commercial fusion.
Prof Zhang Jie, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said his country was fast developing a form of inertial laser fusion at a vast new facility in Sichuan that was 30 times more efficient than its US rival and promised to deliver baseload power at circa $25 per megawatt hour.
Such a level – if achieved – would obliterate all competition in global energy and establish China as the hegemonic electro-superpower.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Telegraph 23 September 2025
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