Fusion supply chain ramps up but challenges remain

Based on input from 25 fusion companies, around half of the world’s private fusion companies, their total spend amounted to $538 million in 2025, broadly in line with the 2024 projections.

Looking ahead the companies project a further jump of 27% in 2026 to a spend of $681 million.

However, there continues to a ‘chicken and egg’ gridlock, with fusion companies needing serious supply chain capacity building in the next decade but having insufficient funding to give suppliers the long-term confidence to make these investments.

But this gridlock does appear to be easing, with 70% of fusion companies seeing an increase in established suppliers pivoting to fusion and 25% observing existing suppliers successfully scaling up capacity to meet their needs.

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Meanwhile, 75% of suppliers made investments to expand fusion capacity in the last year, ranging from $30,000 to $65 million.

Suppliers also report the frequency and substance of their conversations with fusion companies having notably improved over the last year.

Among the suppliers, about three quarters view the fusion industry as a medium risk business but all plan to expand their work with fusion companies in 2026, with the majority also open to international expansion.

Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association commented that this fourth annual report sees considerable progress in the relationship between fusion developers and their supply chain.

Noting the easing of the ‘chicken and egg’ gridlock with supplier relationships improving and investment in scaling up capacity, he cautioned: “Nonetheless, we are still in the engineering phase of the challenge, and while there is much to be optimistic about, demands on the supply chain will expand to serve commercial fusion machines. All players need to have an eye on those approaching tipping points.”

Calling for a collaborative effort between policymakers, investors, the supply chain and fusion companies to build capacity, Holland added: “In large part, the ‘winner’ of the race to fusion will not be the country that gets there first, but the one with the strongest, most integrated supply chain.”

The report identifies heat management and power systems and components as both top current and future supply chain constraints. Other top future constraints pertain to the fusion fuel cycle – including lithium, deuterium and tritium – and to first wall and core rector materials that can withstand the extreme temperature conditions of fusion.

The availability of precision engineering and suppliers who can produce specialist fusion specific components also is a concern both currently and in scaling to a first of a kind and beyond to commercial plants.

For those that do exist, fusion’s small batch orders must compete with mature industries such as aerospace, space, and automotive which can commit to larger, longer-term orders. Long lead times and procurement bottlenecks are common as a result.

Supply chain recommendations

In addition to the nurturing of a dedicated fusion supplier ecosystem, recommendations include strengthening supplier-developer communications through structured platforms and derisking investment through demand visibility.

Standardisation and pre-competitive collaboration should be accelerated, access expanded to shared infrastructure and test facilities and regulation streamlined.

The supply chin funding gap also should be closed with dedicated financing and in particular the development of the fusion fuel systems supply chains should be accelerated with companies both developing in-house capabilities but also working with external suppliers on fuel cycle issues.

The supply chain report is one of two special reports produced annually by the Fusion Industry Association, the other on the state of the global fusion industry.