Controlled Nuclear Fusion Specialized Power Supply Industry Matchmaking Conference Held in Hefei High-tech Zone

On August 14, a major industry event focused on the fusion core equipment track — the "Fusion Power Source, Chain Linkage, New Journey" Controlled Nuclear Fusion Specialized Power Supply Industry Matchmaking Conference — was held at the Zhongke Hefei Technology Innovation Engineering Institute. The conference was guided by the Hefei High-tech Zone Science and Technology Bureau, co-hosted by the USTC Silicon Valley Service Platform and the Fusion Financial Institutions Alliance, organized by Hefei Tai'a Fusion Technology Co., Ltd., Science Island Hefei Technology Innovation Engineering Institute Co., Ltd., and the Anhui Science, Technology and Industry Integration Innovation Association, with exclusive support from the Bank of China Hefei Branch.

Specialized power supplies are the core power hub supporting the stable operation of controlled fusion devices, and are also key hardware for achieving stable plasma confinement and advancing self-sustaining fusion reactions. In various fusion experimental devices, the overall cost of the power supply system accounts for a considerable proportion. Currently, the global controlled nuclear fusion industry has entered a stage where engineering demonstration and commercialization breakthroughs proceed in parallel, and the industry is facing a window of opportunity for development. However, the industry still faces practical development challenges such as long cycles for translating scientific research into technology applications, lack of information exchange between upstream and downstream supply and demand, and heavy R&D burdens on sci-tech innovation and manufacturing enterprises.

At the conference, Huang Liansheng, Deputy Director of the Power Supply and Control Engineering Research Department of the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Researcher at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, CAS, delivered a keynote report titled "Magnetic Confinement Nuclear Fusion High-Power Power Supply Technology, Equipment Development and Applications."

Drawing on over a decade of engineering implementation experience with national major scientific facilities such as EAST, China's Huanliu-3 (HL-3), and ITER, he systematically analyzed the current technical shortcomings and domestic substitution progress of China's fusion specialized power supplies from the two core categories of magnet power supplies and auxiliary heating power supplies, and compared the differentiated power supply performance requirements across multiple technical routes including tokamaks, stellarators, FRC, and inertial confinement.

In the industry chain thematic reports, 12 benchmark enterprises covering power supply complete machines, supercapacitors, and pulse capacitors — including Jinyi Electric, CSSC 719 Research Institute, Senmu Leishi, Ningbo Xinrong, Guorui Zhaofu, Zhongke Hai'ao, Aike Saibo, and Jiuxin Technology — took the stage in succession. Each enterprise shared its self-developed products and implementation results based on real domestic fusion device delivery cases, and released cooperation demands for joint R&D, batch supply, and domestic replacement of imported equipment, fully covering the complete industry chain supporting capabilities for fusion power supplies.

During the roundtable forum, participating guests compared the differentiated power supply requirements of tokamaks, stellarators, and FRC, and analyzed the technical bottlenecks and upgrade directions for steady-state demonstration reactor power supplies. They reviewed the domestic substitution progress of complete machines, power devices, capacitors, and insulating materials, seeking solutions that balance custom R&D with batch production and enable full-chain joint verification. In response to challenges in device integration commissioning and operation and maintenance coordination, industry participants proposed that manufacturers and research institutes conduct joint front-end design to improve quality and efficiency while reducing trial-and-error. They also explored cost reduction pathways for demonstration reactor power supplies, promoted the spillover of power supply technology into high-energy physics and pulsed laser fields, and leveraged multiple market tracks to feed back into the fusion industry.