Is China really building an artificial sun? The country has just unveiled a 582-tonne superconducting magnet, the largest of its kind ever built, designed to hold plasma heated to nearly 100 million degrees Celsius inside its BEST fusion reactor in Hefei. This magnet outperforms the equivalent part being built for ITER, the 35-nation global fusion project, storing three times the energy in a fraction of the time and cost. China wants fusion electricity flowing by 2030, a full four years ahead of ITER’s own delayed timeline. But before anyone celebrates unlimited energy, remember every fusion reactor built so far still consumes more power than it makes. We break down the science, the numbers, the timeline, and exactly where India’s own fusion program stands in this race that could define the next century of global energy.
