Nuclear fusion - long considered the “holy grail” of clean energy - is moving rapidly from theory to industrial-scale reality. With multi-billion-dollar private investments, record-breaking plasma tests, and landmark government programmes, fusion is emerging as a credible pathway to limitless, carbon-free power.
These 25 statistics highlight the state of the global nuclear fusion industry in 2026 - from market projections and record experiments to investment surges and next-decade milestones shaping the energy transition.
Market Size and Projections
- In 2024, the global nuclear fusion market size was valued at $331.6 billion and is estimated to reach $633.8 billion by 2037, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% during the forecast period (Research Nester, 2025).
- By 2037, the European nuclear fusion market is set to capture over 35.9% revenue share (Research Nester, 2025).
- In 2025, the global nuclear fusion market is estimated to be valued at $351.17 billion and is anticipated to reach $538.38 billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 6.0% during the forecast period (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
- As of 2025, North America accounted for 38.2% of the global market share (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
- In 2024, another source valued the global nuclear fusion market at $348.2 billion and projected it to reach $490.0 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.7% during that forecast period (TechSciResearch, 2025).
- In 2024, the North America nuclear fusion Market was valued at $121.53 billion and is expected to reach $169.85 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 5.74% during the forecast period (TechSciResearch, 2025).
Segment Size
- By 2027, the inertial confinement segment is predicted to dominate over 72.1% nuclear fusion market share (Research Nester, 2025).
- As of 2025, in terms of technology, magnetic confinement contributes to 62.4% share of the market (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
- As of 2025, in terms of fuel, deuterium/tritium contributes to 41.7% share of the market (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
Investment & Funding
- In May 2023, Germany-based Proxima Fusion start up announced that it had raised US$ 7.5 million fund in order to develop a fusion energy machine (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
- In 2021, TAE Technologies, a private fusion energy company based in California, raised a total of $880 million in its funding rounds (TAE, 2021).
- In 2021, Helion Energy raised $500 million in upfront investment in its Series E funding round (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
- Since its inception, Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised over $2 billion in funding (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
- In 2021, Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1.8 billion in its Series B funding round which is said to be one of the largest private funding rounds in the history of fusion energy (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
- In the UK, in 2024, the Fusion Futures Programme dedicated $793 million to enhance private-sector infrastructure, research, and training (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
- In 2024, Italy’s Divertor Tokamak Test Facility secured $530 million in funding (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
Breakthroughs
- In 2024, the Joint European Torus (JET) in the UK, a European research team, succeeded in generating 69 megajoules of energy from 0.2 milligrams of fuel. This is the largest amount of energy ever achieved in a fusion experiment (Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, 2024).
- In December 2022, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) achieved a fusion reaction that produced more energy than was needed to start it (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
- On the 5th of December 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California also achieved a milestone in which fusion reactions produced roughly 54% more energy than the laser beams delivered to the target (Coherent Market Insights, 2025).
- In 2024, scientists at the KSTAR research centre part of the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE) set a new world record by sustaining plasma at 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds, surpassing the previous 30-second record from 2021 using KFE research device (CNN, 2024).
- On 12th February 2025, WEST, located in Cadarache, France, was able to maintain hot plasma for 1,337 seconds. During the test, the plasma generated reached a temperature of 50 million degrees celsius, breaking the previous world record of 1066 seconds (Advanced Science News, 2025).
Environmental
- The European Commission’s Energy 2050 Roadmap highlights nuclear power as key to the energy transition and outlines five scenarios achieving an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through nuclear energy, renewables, and carbon capture and storage (Research Nester, 2025).
Future Outlook
- By 2026, the KSTAR research centre wants to be able to sustain plasma temperatures of 100 million degrees for 300 seconds (CNN, 2024).
- In 2023, Helion Energy signed a landmark Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Microsoft, committing to deliver at least 50 megawatts of fusion-generated electricity by 2028 (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
- TAE technologies plans to launch a commercial fusion power plant, known as Da Vinci, which is targeted to be grid-ready in the early 2030s (Nuclear Business Platform, 2025).
Nuclear fusion is entering a new era of scientific validation and commercial momentum. With record temperatures, extended plasma durations, and landmark net-energy breakthroughs, fusion energy is proving both technically viable and economically attractive.
The challenge ahead lies in industrial scaling - building the reactors, supply chains, and regulatory frameworks required to bring fusion power to the grid. If current trajectories continue, the 2030s could mark not just the decade of fusion breakthroughs, but of the first generation of commercially viable fusion power.
