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China’s HL-4 Fusion Plan Puts 25-Tesla Magnets at the Center of Its 2030 Strategy
China unveiled HL 4 at its 2026 Fusion Energy Conference in Shanghai as a next generation experimental facility focused on testing 25 tesla high temperature superconducting magnets in complex fusion conditions. The announcement builds on HL 3’s 2025 achievement of roughly 120 million °C ion temperatures, while a sep...
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Key takeaways
- China unveiled HL 4 at its 2026 Fusion Energy Conference in Shanghai as a next generation experimental facility focused on testing 25 tesla high temperature superconducting magnets in complex fusion conditions.
- The announcement builds on HL 3’s 2025 achievement of roughly 120 million °C ion temperatures, while a separate consortium aims to complete a 25 T HTS magnet development and testing line by 2028 and prototype magnets...
- A separate 582 ton superconducting magnet tested for the BEST tokamak is an engineering milestone; BEST is targeting completion in 2027 and a fusion electricity demonstration around 2030.
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openai.comCreate a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: What did China unveil at the 2026 Fusion Energy Conference in Shanghai regarding the next-generation HL-4 tokamak, including its relationshi. Article summary: China unveiled the HL-4 (Huanliu-4) concept: a next-generation fusion experimental facility intended to move the country’s tokamak program from plasma-physics milestones toward reactor-relevant, high-field superconductin. Topic tags: general, general web, user generated, government. Style: premium digital editorial illustration, source-backed research mood, clean composition, high detail, modern web publication hero. Use reference image context only for broad subject, composition, and topical grounding; do not copy the exact image. Avoid: logos, brand marks, copyrighted characters, real person likenesses, fake screenshots, UI text, readable text, watermarks, ch
China’s 2026 Fusion Energy Conference in Shanghai presented HL-4, or Huanliu-4, as a next-generation fusion experimental facility with a distinctly engineering-focused mission: testing whether high-temperature superconducting magnets can operate reliably in the heat, radiation and mechanical-stress environment of a fusion device. 37
The announcement matters because it connects China’s continuing plasma experiments with a broader attempt to build the magnets, materials and industrial systems needed for future fusion machines. It does not mean that commercial fusion power has been demonstrated.
HL-4 is the next engineering step in China’s tokamak program
The HL designation continues the Southwestern Institute of Physics’ Huanliu series, which includes HL-1, HL-2A and the currently operating HL-3. The available reporting identifies HL-3 as the latest major operating device in that sequence, while HL-4 is being framed as a more reactor-relevant platform rather than simply another experiment to set a plasma-temperature record.
The central technical challenge is the use of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets at high magnetic fields. According to conference reporting, HL-4 is intended to verify the reliability of a 25-tesla HTS magnet under complex fusion conditions. Chinese reporting describes the planned facility as a steady-state burning-plasma experimental platform and gives a projected fusion gain, or Q value, above 5—but those are design goals, not operating results. 23
In practical terms, HL-4 is meant to test whether the magnet technology can remain functional while exposed to intense thermal loads, radiation and electromagnetic or mechanical forces. That is a different question from whether a tokamak can briefly produce a very hot plasma: a future power plant would need magnets and supporting systems that operate repeatedly and reliably.
What HL-3 achieved in 2025
HL-3 provides the plasma-physics foundation for the next stage. In 2025, reports described the device as reaching a dual-million-degree milestone, with ion temperatures of about 120 million °C and electron temperatures of about 160 million °C. 36
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The exact ion-temperature figure varies slightly by source: a CNNC report on the March 2025 announcement cited 117 million °C for the atomic-nucleus temperature, while later summaries used 120 million °C. 34
42 The important point is that HL-3 demonstrated operation in the 100-million-degree range associated with advanced fusion-plasma research, not that it generated commercial electricity.
Reports have also described plans for upgraded HL-3 burning-plasma experiments around 2027. 32
36 Those experiments would continue the move from demonstrating extreme plasma conditions toward studying self-heated or “burning” plasma behavior.
The separate 25-tesla magnet roadmap
The HL-4 announcement was accompanied by a separate industrial effort. A Yangtze River Delta innovation consortium led by China Fusion Energy and involving eight other companies and institutions announced a roadmap for high-temperature superconducting, high-field tokamak magnets. The group says its work is aimed at the requirements of HL-4. 18
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The reported timetable has two distinct milestones:
- By 2028: complete the first 25-tesla HTS high-field magnet development and testing line.
- By 2030: complete development of prototype magnets.
Those dates describe magnet-development infrastructure and prototype production, not necessarily the completion or commissioning of HL-4 itself. Keeping the milestones separate is important: a test line can be ready before a prototype is finished, and a prototype can be completed before it has demonstrated long-duration operation in a fusion environment. 21
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The consortium approach also shows that China’s fusion strategy extends beyond individual research institutes. Superconductor production, magnet fabrication, cryogenics, power supplies, structural engineering and testing all have to work together before a fusion device can become a repeatable energy system.
Why the 582-ton BEST magnet is significant—and what it does not prove
The 582-ton superconducting toroidal-field magnet tested in July belongs to a different project: the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak, or BEST. China’s Institute of Plasma Physics reported full-performance testing of key superconducting magnet systems, including the toroidal-field magnet and a high-temperature superconducting central-solenoid coil, using domestically developed technologies. 22
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The magnet is a major manufacturing and systems-integration milestone because large superconducting magnets are essential to confining tokamak plasma. But passing acceptance and full-parameter tests is not the same as producing net fusion electricity. BEST remains an experimental project under construction, with completion targeted for 2027 and a goal of demonstrating fusion-generated electricity around 2030. 25
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That distinction helps put the announcement in context:
- HL-3 is demonstrating increasingly demanding plasma conditions.
- HL-4 is intended to test reactor-relevant HTS magnet performance in a fusion environment.
- BEST is advancing a separate superconducting tokamak toward burning-plasma and power-generation demonstrations.
These projects are related parts of China’s wider fusion effort, but they are not interchangeable milestones.
How the projects fit China’s wider fusion strategy
China’s 2026–2030 Five-Year Plan identifies fusion energy among the country’s frontier-technology priorities. Analysts describe the plan as emphasizing technological self-reliance and domestic capability in strategic industries. 46
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The combination of HL-4, the 25-tesla magnet roadmap and BEST therefore points to a supply-chain strategy as much as a plasma-research strategy. China is trying to develop the hardware ecosystem required for advanced tokamaks while continuing to improve plasma performance.
A frequently repeated figure of more than 300 billion yuan in investment through 2030 should be treated cautiously. The available source presents it as an estimate for fusion and other future industries, not as a clearly documented fusion-only appropriation or a dedicated HL-4 budget. 49 The safer conclusion is that fusion has become a strategic investment area; the precise national fusion allocation is not established by the supplied evidence.
The bottom line
HL-4 is best understood as China’s attempt to close the gap between impressive tokamak experiments and the difficult engineering of a future fusion reactor. HL-3’s high-temperature plasma results show progress in the physics. BEST’s 582-ton magnet demonstrates growing capacity to manufacture and test enormous superconducting components. The HL-4 roadmap adds a more demanding test: whether high-temperature superconducting magnets can survive the sustained, hostile conditions expected inside a fusion device.
That is a meaningful step in the global fusion race—but it remains a step toward reactor capability, not proof that commercial fusion power is ready.
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China unveiled HL 4 at its 2026 Fusion Energy Conference in Shanghai as a next generation experimental facility focused on testing 25 tesla high temperature superconducting magnets in complex fusion conditions.
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China unveiled HL 4 at its 2026 Fusion Energy Conference in Shanghai as a next generation experimental facility focused on testing 25 tesla high temperature superconducting magnets in complex fusion conditions. The announcement builds on HL 3’s 2025 achievement of roughly 120 million °C ion temperatures, while a separate consortium aims to complete a 25 T HTS magnet development and testing line by 2028 and prototype magnets...
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A separate 582 ton superconducting magnet tested for the BEST tokamak is an engineering milestone; BEST is targeting completion in 2027 and a fusion electricity demonstration around 2030.
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