China Unveils World's Largest Superconducting Magnet in Race for Fusion Power

China has taken a major step toward developing its first commercial fusion reactor by completing tests of the world's largest superconducting magnet. Weighing 582 tonnes, the device is designed to confine plasma at temperatures exceeding 100 million°C – conditions that replicate the processes taking place inside stars. The achievement brings China closer to its goal of demonstrating practical fusion power by 2030 while intensifying global competition in the race for virtually limitless clean energy. A Record-Breaking Magnet Designed to Contain Stellar Temperatures Built as part of the CRAFT project, the new toroidal superconducting magnet measures 21 meters in length. Its primary role is to generate an extremely powerful magnetic field capable of stabilizing superheated plasma and keeping it suspended at the center of a fusion reactor without allowing it to touch the reactor walls. Any contact between plasma and the vessel would instantly destroy conventional materials because temperatures inside a tokamak exceed 100 million°C. Chinese engineers report that the new system stores roughly three times more energy than the magnetic systems developed for the international ITER project while offering a magnetic volume approximately 1.3 times larger. China also achieved full domestic production of the system, manufacturing every key component-including specialized steel and superconducting materials-within the country.