China's Record-Breaking Superconducting Magnets for Fusion: 100% Domestic Production and the Path to 2027 Ignition

• Dimensions and weight: 21 m long × 12 m wide × 3.3 m high, weighing 582.4 tonnes .
• Comparison to ITER: The CRAFT TF magnet is 1.3 times the volume of ITER's equivalent TF magnets and "eclipses international performance benchmarks" . ITER's TF coils are designed for an 11.8 T peak field, though detailed field-strength comparisons for the CRAFT magnet are not yet fully public .
• Role: The TF magnet creates the toroidal magnetic confinement field that holds the plasma inside a tokamak reactor.
• Development timeline: The project took 6 years from initial design through pre-research, fabrication, assembly, and testing .

High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Central Solenoid Coil

On the same day, a high-temperature superconducting central solenoid coil completed full-condition testing with internationally leading performance .

• Tested performance: The coil carried a stable current of 60 kA with 6.03 MJ of stored energy. The maximum magnetic field change rate reached 5.1 T/s, and the joint resistance was only 0.87 nΩ — all core performance indicators at world-leading levels .
• Function: The central solenoid induces and drives the plasma current inside the tokamak.
• Technology: Uses advanced HTS materials based on ReBCO (Rare-earth Barium Copper Oxide) Cable-in-Conduit Conductor (CICC), under development for CFETR-class high-field magnets targeting peak fields above 15 T .

100% Domestic Production

Both magnets achieved full domestic production, meaning all core technologies across the entire supply chain — from superconducting strand fabrication to coil winding, heat treatment, assembly, and testing — are self-controlled and free of import dependency .

This milestone is described by state media as "100% localization" and ensures that China's fusion program is not dependent on foreign suppliers for these critical components .

The CRAFT Facility

The magnets are the largest components of the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT), also known as the "Kuafu" facility, located in Hefei . CRAFT is a national mega-science infrastructure designed to incubate, build, and test key systems for next-generation fusion reactors .

Other recent CRAFT milestones include:

• A one-eighth vacuum chamber prototype that passed expert review in March 2025
• A divertor prototype — the world's largest — that passed review in October 2025, capable of handling a steady-state thermal load of 20 MW/m²

Strategic Placement in China's Fusion Roadmap

These magnet milestones are not isolated achievements. They fit into a multi-phase strategy that positions China as a serious contender in the global fusion energy race .

Key point: The TF and CS magnets just tested are functionally prototypes for CFETR, but their immediate purpose is to de-risk and enable BEST, which China aims to make the first fusion device to achieve sustained burning plasma with a fusion gain greater than 1 (Q>1) by 2027 .

Why This Matters

EAST's recent records — including the 1,066-second H-mode plasma pulse at over 100 million °C in January 2025 and the 2026 breakthrough of a long-standing density barrier — demonstrate China's operational plasma control maturity . The CRAFT magnets prove that China now has the industrial-scale domestic production capability needed to build BEST and CFETR without relying on foreign supply chains.

According to an analysis published in the OUCI scientific database, China's systematic multi-phase strategy — progressing from EAST to ITER partnership and now advancing toward CFEDR — has driven transformative innovations in fusion magnet technology, including high-current-density CICC conductors using both low-temperature and high-temperature superconductors .

The Economist noted in March 2026 that China is "a serious contender in the race for fusion energy," pointing to the rapid construction of BEST in Hefei as evidence of the country's determination . The completion of these world-leading magnets adds concrete engineering proof to that assessment.

What Comes Next

With the CRAFT magnets now validated, the immediate focus shifts to BEST. The device is under final assembly at the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, with its main building completed and pre-assembly of components underway as of mid-2026 . The cryostat base, a giant vacuum-insulated container that keeps superconducting magnets at -269 °C, was installed in June 2026 .

If BEST achieves first plasma by end of 2027 as planned, it would mark the first time a fusion device demonstrates sustained burning plasma and net energy gain, putting China ahead of international competitors including ITER (targeting first plasma in the 2030s) and private fusion companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems (targeting 2027 for its SPARC device) .