Private fusion sector

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A privately financed fusion industry has formed over the last decade, pursuing routes ranging from high-field compact tokamaks to field-reversed configurations and direct electricity conversion schemes that avoid a steam cycle entirely. The Fusion Industry Association's 2025 global report covered 53 companies with cumulative funding of about $9.7 billion, a roughly five-fold increase since 2021, of which about $2.64 billion was raised in the twelve months to July 2025; the same report describes access to funding as a continuing major challenge. Several of these companies have announced dates for net gain and for grid connection in the late 2020s and early 2030s. Those are corporate announcements. They are not forecasts, not independent assessments and not evidence, and this Journey treats them strictly as declared targets. The sector's real significance so far is that it has changed who is building fusion machines and how fast, not that it has demonstrated anything a public laboratory has not.

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