GreenergyDaily

Oct. 28, 2025

In the race to develop the next generation of nuclear reactors, China is increasingly challenging the US and other countries for dominance, according to tech billionaire Bill Gates.

"Their fusion and fission work is very impressive," the Microsoft Corp. co-founder said of China's nuclear innovation efforts. The country is investing more in fusion "than the rest of the world put together, times two," he added.

China has a commanding lead in developing and manufacturing a wide range of green solutions, including electric cars, solar panels and batteries, as well as materials essential to the energy transition like rare earth minerals. Advanced nuclear reactors are one of the few areas where it has yet to attain a similar major advantage.

There are many hurdles for the nuclear industry globally, including regulatory approvals, building a supply chain for next-generation fuel and, in the case of fusion, delivering net-energy in the first place.

Yet there’s growing interest in small modular reactors as well as nuclear fusion as countries scramble to find new power sources to meet growing data center demand.

In the US, data centers are expected to make up roughly 9% of the total electricity usage by 2035, more than double 2024 levels, according to an April report published by BloombergNEF. That rising demand will drive $350 billion boom in spending on nuclear power, according to a recent Bloomberg Intelligence report.