Energy Singularity's HTS tokamak bet: HH70 first plasma 2024, 1,337s record by 2026

Private fusion developer in Shanghai building compact high-temperature-superconducting tokamaks, targeting commercial power plants in the 2030s

HTS magnets could shrink tokamaks to 2% of normal volume and cut builds from 30 to 3-4 years — making fusion iterable hardware instead of a national project.

~¥400M seed round led by miHoYo and NIO Capital (2022), per FusionXInvest

Founded in Shanghai on 2021-06-02 by physicists including CEO Yang Zhao, China's first private fusion company (Xinhua). Yang's bet: REBCO high-temperature superconductors could make tokamaks small and cheap enough for private capital to fund — and China's HTS supply chain would keep cost down. A ¥400M seed round led by game studio miHoYo financed the start.

HH70 was designed from March 2022 and installed by end of February 2024 — the fastest tokamak build on record, with over 96% localization and full IP ownership (Global Times). On 2024-06-19 Energy Singularity announced first plasma: the world's first tokamak with an all-high-temperature-superconducting magnet system, at roughly 2% of conventional volume. Plans: next machine HH170 (Q>10) by 2027, demonstration power plant by 2030.

Still scaling: by 2026-02-06 HH70 had run 5,755 shots, including a 1,337-second steady-state long-pulse plasma — the longest for a commercially built fusion device (Xinhua). HH170 development is underway; the company says HTS plus AI plasma control has reached engineering feasibility.

REBCO HTS magnets are the load-bearing bet: at ~2% of conventional volume and 3-4 year builds, the machine became fundable by private capital instead of only states (Science Times, Global Times).

First plasma was a checkable milestone on 2024-06-19 that proved engineering feasibility and earned worldwide press — attention that kept follow-on funding flowing.

96% localization plus a domestic HTS supply chain (Global Times) cut both cost and iteration latency, a structural edge over US peers like Commonwealth Fusion Systems.

The 1,337-second pulse (2026-02-06) showed HTS plus AI plasma control has engineering feasibility (Xinhua) — evidence the bet is compounding, not just promising.

New materials can collapse a 30-year national megaproject to venture scale: build the smallest credible device first (24 months to first plasma), scale only after a verified milestone, not before.

As of 2026-02-06, HH70 keeps running daily (~5,755 shots) while the company focuses engineering on HH170 (Q>10 by 2027) and AI-based plasma control. Xinhua reports Shanghai is building itself into a global fusion innovation hub around multiple pathways, with Energy Singularity's HTS tokamak as the flagship commercial line. The company's stated trajectory: HH170 for net energy gain, then a demonstration plant toward 2030, targeting fusion electricity costs at or below thermal power. Rivals (CFS's SPARC, others) still trail on the all-HTS commercial-operation record Energy Singularity holds.