| 1. | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY |
| 1.1. | Overview of the fusion energy market |
| 1.2. | Technical primer - what is nuclear fusion? |
| 1.3. | Drivers behind the recent emergence of commercial fusion |
| 1.4. | Long term visions for fusion and limits to its growth rate |
| 1.5. | Fusion must compete with other power sources |
| 1.6. | Fusion has the potential to meet data center power demands |
| 1.7. | Is fusion the 'space race' of the 21st century? |
| 1.8. | Fundamental differences between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission |
| 1.9. | Fusion regulation is separating from fission regulation and needs international harmonization |
| 1.10. | Fusion reactors are categorized by their confinement mechanism |
| 1.11. | Commercial fusion market landscape by reactor approach |
| 1.12. | Timeline of major players in commercial fusion: Tokamaks and stellarators |
| 1.13. | Timeline of major players in commercial fusion: Field-reversed configurations, inertial, magneto-inertial and z-pinch reactors |
| 1.14. | When do fusion startups expect their first power plant to be deployed? |
| 1.15. | Benchmarking fusion approaches - results normalized 0 to 1 (no weighting) |
| 1.16. | Conclusions from benchmarking scheme for commercial fusion |
| 1.17. | Key materials and components for fusion |
| 1.18. | Overview of the 2G HTS (ReBCO) tape value chain in fusion |
| 1.19. | Inertial confinement fusion faces challenges in scaling up components |
| 1.20. | Overview of the fusion breeder blanket material value chain |
| 1.21. | Key takeaways for lithium use in fusion |
| 1.22. | Analysis of fuels used in commercial fusion |
| 1.23. | 3 key takeaways for materials opportunities in fusion |
| 1.24. | Company landscape beyond fusion power plant OEMs and materials |
| 1.25. | How will the commercial fusion market landscape evolve? |
| 1.26. | Strategies fusion companies can use to encourage investment |
| 1.27. | Summary of IDTechEx Commercial Fusion Timelines |
| 1.28. | Access More With an IDTechEx Subscription |
| 2. | INTRODUCTION |
| 2.1. | Overview of the fusion energy market |
| 2.2. | Drivers behind the recent emergence of commercial fusion |
| 2.3. | Technical Primer |
| 2.4. | Technical primer - what is nuclear fusion? |
| 2.5. | Releasing energy and the energy density of fusion |
| 2.6. | Achieving sustained fusion - the triple product |
| 2.7. | Electricity production |
| 2.8. | Q factor - going beyond breakeven |
| 2.9. | Fusion & Fission |
| 2.10. | Fundamental differences between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission |
| 2.11. | Similarities between the fission and fusion industry |
| 2.12. | Nuclear industry provides engineering services and components for fusion |
| 2.13. | Regulations for Fusion |
| 2.14. | The importance of clear and appropriate regulations for fusion |
| 2.15. | Regulation around the world seeks to recognize fusion as distinct from fission |
| 2.16. | Europe must turn fusion research and innovation into commercial value |
| 2.17. | Conclusions for fusion regulation and international harmonization |
| 3. | MARKET OVERVIEW |
| 3.1. | Long term visions for fusion and limits to its growth rate |
| 3.2. | Competition with other power sources |
| 3.3. | Investment in fusion to meet data center power demands |
| 3.4. | Is fusion the 'space race' of the 21st century? |
| 3.5. | Commercial Landscape by Reactor Class |
| 3.6. | Fusion approaches are categorized by their confinement mechanism |
| 3.7. | Market landscape by reactor type |
| 3.8. | Fuels in Commercial Fusion |
| 3.9. | Reactions in commercial fusion |
| 3.10. | Commercial fusion market landscape by fuel |
| 3.11. | Tritium supply and self-sufficiency is a major concern for D-T reactors |
| 3.12. | Supply of other fusion fuels: Deuterium, helium-3, and boron |
| 3.13. | Analysis of fuels used in commercial fusion |
| 3.14. | Other Fusion Players |
| 3.15. | Company landscape beyond fusion power plant OEMs and materials |
| 3.16. | The importance of AI: Building trust in surrogate models |
| 4. | BENCHMARKING & TIMELINES |
| 4.1. | Chapter overview: Benchmarking and timelines |
| 4.2. | Benchmarking Commercial Fusion Approaches |
| 4.3. | Identifying the seven leading approaches to commercial fusion |
| 4.4. | The benchmarking process |
| 4.5. | Metrics used for the benchmarking scheme |
| 4.6. | Benchmarking - results normalized 0 to 1 (no weighting) - table |
| 4.7. | Benchmarking - results normalized 0 to 1 (no weighting) - radar chart |
| 4.8. | Benchmarking commercial fusion approaches - weighted totals |
| 4.9. | Which fusion approaches are underfunded relative to their benchmarking results? |
| 4.10. | Funding landscapes vary drastically by approach |
| 4.11. | Comparing tokamak and stellarator benchmarking results |
| 4.12. | Breaking down the weighted benchmarks |
| 4.13. | Weightings used for the benchmarking scheme |
| 4.14. | Benchmarking commercial fusion approaches - raw data |
| 4.15. | Important metrics that could not be used in this benchmarking scheme |
| 4.16. | Conclusions from benchmarking scheme |
| 4.17. | Commercial Fusion Player Roadmaps |
| 4.18. | Timeline of major players in commercial fusion: Tokamaks and stellarators |
| 4.19. | Timeline of major players in commercial fusion: Field-reversed configurations, inertial, magneto-inertial and z-pinch reactors |
| 4.20. | When do fusion startups expect their first power plant to be deployed? |
| 4.21. | Funding for commercial fusion by approach (to date) |
| 4.22. | IDTechEx Commercial Fusion Timelines |
| 4.23. | IDTechEx Commercial Fusion Timeline: Approaches to fusion |
| 4.24. | IDTechEx Commercial Fusion Timeline: Fuels for fusion |
| 4.25. | IDTechEx Commercial Fusion Timeline: The cost of fusion energy |
| 4.26. | Summary of IDTechEx Commercial Fusion Timelines |
| 5. | FUSION APPROACHES AND KEY PLAYERS |
| 5.1.1. | Overview of fusion approaches covered in this chapter |
| 5.2. | Magnetic Confinement Fusion: Technologies, Key Players |
| 5.2.1. | Chapter overview: Magnetic confinement fusion |
| 5.2.2. | Tokamaks and Spherical Tokamaks |
| 5.2.3. | Operating principles of tokamaks |
| 5.2.4. | International collaboration on ITER |
| 5.2.5. | The 5 aims of ITER |
| 5.2.6. | Next steps after ITER - the DEMO generation |
| 5.2.7. | Progress and delays on ITER with a new timeline |
| 5.2.8. | Is ITER too large for its own good? |
| 5.2.9. | Timeline of commercial tokamak fusion |
| 5.2.10. | Timeline of commercial spherical tokamak fusion |
| 5.2.11. | SWOT analysis: Tokamaks and spherical tokamaks |
| 5.2.12. | Stellarators |
| 5.2.13. | Principles of stellarators |
| 5.2.14. | Stellarator vs tokamak |
| 5.2.15. | Germany and Europe as the home of stellarators |
| 5.2.16. | Timeline of commercial stellarator fusion - part 1 |
| 5.2.17. | Timeline of commercial stellarator fusion - part 2 |
| 5.2.18. | SWOT analysis: Stellarators |
| 5.2.19. | Field-Reversed Configurations |
| 5.2.20. | Principles of field-reversed configurations |
| 5.2.21. | Principles of magneto-inertial field-reversed configurations (Helion Energy) |
| 5.2.22. | Timeline of commercial field-reversed configuration fusion |
| 5.2.23. | SWOT analysis: Field-reversed configurations |
| 5.3. | Inertial Confinement Fusion: Technologies, Key Players |
| 5.3.1. | Principles of inertial confinement fusion |
| 5.3.2. | Laser Driven Inertial Confinement Reactors |
| 5.3.3. | Principles of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion |
| 5.3.4. | The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Lab: Progress from first ignition |
| 5.3.5. | Is a real-world inertial confinement fusion powerplant feasible? (Targets) |
| 5.3.6. | Is a real-world inertial confinement fusion powerplant feasible? (Lasers) |
| 5.3.7. | Laser-driven fusion faces two huge hurdles to commercialisation - lasers |
| 5.3.8. | Laser-driven fusion faces two huge hurdles to commercialisation - targets |
| 5.3.9. | Timeline of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion |
| 5.3.10. | SWOT analysis: Laser-driven inertial confinement fusion |
| 5.4. | Magneto-Inertial Confinement and Z-Pinch Fusion: Technologies, Key Players |
| 5.4.1. | Introduction to this chapter of the report |
| 5.4.2. | Timeline of magneto-inertial confinement and z-pinch fusion |
| 5.4.3. | Pulsed Magnetic Fusion |
| 5.4.4. | Technical overview of pulsed magnetic fusion |
| 5.4.5. | SWOT analysis: Pulsed magnetic fusion |
| 5.4.6. | Z-Pinch Fusion |
| 5.4.7. | Technical overview of z-pinch fusion |
| 5.4.8. | SWOT analysis: Z-pinch reactors |
| 5.4.9. | Magnetized Target Fusion |
| 5.4.10. | Technical overview of magnetized target fusion |
| 5.4.11. | SWOT analysis: Magnetized target fusion |
| 6. | MATERIALS OPPORTUNITIES AND COMPONENTS FOR FUSION |
| 6.1. | Key materials and components for fusion |
| 6.2. | High-temperature superconductors (HTS) |
| 6.3. | High-temperature superconductors |
| 6.4. | Production process of HTS tape |
| 6.5. | Overview of the 2G HTS (ReBCO) tape value chain in fusion |
| 6.6. | Global demand for HTS tape expected to grow |
| 6.7. | SWOT analysis: 2G HTS tape for fusion |
| 6.8. | Key takeaways for high-temperature superconductors (HTS) in fusion |
| 6.9. | Plasma Facing Materials (PFMs) |
| 6.10. | Plasma facing materials - the first wall problem |
| 6.11. | Two solutions to the first wall problem: Tungsten and lithium |
| 6.12. | Blanket Materials (Breeder Blankets) |
| 6.13. | Introduction to breeder blankets |
| 6.14. | Breeder blanket materials: Ceramics, liquid metals, and molten salts |
| 6.15. | Solid-state vs fluid blanket materials |
| 6.16. | Breeder blankets are currently one of the lowest TRL components |
| 6.17. | Overview of the fusion breeder blanket material value chain |
| 6.18. | Lithium demand in fusion |
| 6.19. | Demand for separation of lithium isotopes |
| 6.20. | Alternatives to the COLEX process for enriching lithium-6 |
| 6.21. | Comparison of lithium separation methods |
| 6.22. | Current lithium demand is dominated by battery markets |
| 6.23. | Outlook of lithium supply vs demand towards 2035 |
| 6.24. | Modelling lithium use in fusion power plants |
| 6.25. | Key takeaways for lithium use in fusion |
| 6.26. | Additional Key Components for Fusion |
| 6.27. | Specialized components for fusion - capacitors, power electronics and vacuum systems |
| 6.28. | Summary of key components for inertial fusion |
| 6.29. | Materials and Components for Fusion - Conclusions |
| 6.30. | China's influence on tungsten and other critical minerals for fusion |
| 6.31. | Public funding and mutual support is essential to overcome the chicken-egg problem |
| 6.32. | Case study: Gauss Fusion stellarator plant |
| 6.33. | 3 key takeaways for materials opportunities in fusion |
| 7. | BUSINESS MODELS AND FUNDING STRATEGIES IN FUSION |
| 7.1. | How will the commercial fusion market landscape evolve? |
| 7.2. | Secondary and alternative business models in fusion |
| 7.3. | Case study: Alpha Ring commercializing fusion for education & materials research |
| 7.4. | Fusion startups create value at every step in development |
| 7.5. | Fusion can provide process heat directly to industry |
| 7.6. | More common fusion approaches share the burden of securing supply |
| 7.7. | Investment in Fusion |
| 7.8. | Enabling investment in fusion |
| 7.9. | Strategies fusion companies can use to encourage investment |
| 8. | COMPANY PROFILES |
| 8.1. | Company profiles included in this report |