2025-06-12
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The F4E Fusion Observatory presents a report on private sector investment
The F4E Fusion Observatory has published its first-ever report, an analysis of global investment in the fusion private sector. Based on a collection of all available data, the analysis provides a picture of who is investing and where, showing rapid growth and significant geographical differences.
The figures reveal a sharp increase in investments in fusion start-ups in recent years. The total amount has grown from just over 1.5 billion EUR in 2020 to an estimated 9.9 billion EUR at present (June 2025), doubling in the last two years alone. The investment remains concentrated in the US, host of most private companies (38 out of 67), absorbing 60% of global funding. China comes second at 25%, with fewer projects (6) backed by large public funds.
Meanwhile, Europe takes a smaller share of investment (5%), with Germany leading the continent at 460 M EUR million, just above the UK, at 416 M EUR. Among the EU’s seven private companies, the largest sums are received by Marvel Fusion and Focused Energy. F4E can support these emerging players by leveraging on its experience in large projects and knowledge of the market. For this purpose, F4E has an ongoing call inviting EU-based private fusion initiatives to collaborate.
The analysis goes on to present the origin and profile of the investors. While US funding is largely led by venture capital firms or big tech, those in the EU show a more even distribution between public and private investors.
As for the kinds of fusion concepts, magnetic confinement takes the lion’s share of global investment, at €6,1 billion, predominantly for Tokamaks (doughnut-shaped devices, similar to ITER). However, in Europe, inertial confinement technologies are the most funded in the private sector.
By contrast, when considering the public funding used for the in-kind contributions to ITER, the geographic distribution is rebalanced. The €6.8 billion invested by F4E in the EU supply chain is larger than other regions due to the EU’s larger share of the ITER project. This contribution has shaped a strong European industry, capable of delivering complex technologies for fusion. That said, investment in the supply chain, while substantial, has a different impact than equity in a fast-scaling fusion company.
The findings of the report will be discussed at the F4E Roundtable, a key stakeholder forum hosted this week by F4E in Barcelona. With these data-based insights, the F4E Observatory aims to support the policy conversation and help steer it towards the future EU fusion strategy.