As industry-galvanizing moments go, the 2022 National Ignition Facility (NIF) experiment that achieved fusion breakeven is an unusual one. While the achievement marked a pivotal moment for the global scientific community broadly — no small feat — for the nascent fusion industry, it represented concrete evidence that there is, in fact, a business to pursue on the road to sustainable fusion energy. The marketplace has swelled with young companies endeavoring to commercialize fusion energy in the three years since the breakthrough. Multiple approaches to fusion energy exist. Though the NIF experiment moved toward practicalizing just one, the successful result has also sparked momentum in developing many others. At the same time, the volume of applied research in fusion science and technology that is ongoing makes clear that commercial fusion energy is still years away. Without major advancements to the lasers, optics, and fuel, among other critical facets of the inertial confinement fusion infrastructure or framework, laser-driven fusion power will remain an unattainable commercial solution. Other approaches face significant technical bottlenecks as well. The 2022 NIF result occurred on U.S. soil. Yet the NIF team, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the aforementioned global scientific community were united in their message that the seminal moment was the result of years of progress from labs around the world. By this logic, it is unsurprising that the accomplishments of fusion startups based in North America, Europe, and Asia have populated news headlines in the last three years. Sustainable energy is a matter of national security, and bypassing reliance on partners can be an enticing prospect. Against this backdrop, the U.S. and Germany are advancing domestic fusion programs of their own. The DOE’s Inertial Fusion Energy Science and Technology Accelerated Research (IFE-STAR) network is central to the U.S. approach. It supports a $42 million initiative to establish three research hubs that address distinct technology innovations critical for fusion energy. In Germany, the federal government last month announced its investment of more than €2 billion ($2.3 billion) by 2029 to build the country’s first nuclear fusion reactor. The investment is part of the nation’s “Fusion Action Plan,” which also calls for a fusion energy research and innovation road map, as well as dedicated hubs for magnetic- and laser-based fusion development. The two fusion programs share many similarities, not least the vital role of startup companies. These firms will work alongside government-run and government-funded organizations to advance the fusion road maps of their respective countries. The American and German programs also differ in ways that will become clearer as they unfold and evolve. Fusion science and technology itself, after all, is still unfolding and evolving. One core difference that may ultimately define the contrast between the two programs is financial. The Fusion Industry Association said this summer that fusion companies raised $2.64 billion between July 2024 and July 2025. That total has increased in the three months since. But it is no secret that, as it relates to commercial fusion, the key financial metric to consider is investment rather than raised capital. This is because fusion funding, even since the NIF result, has fallen well short of what would seem to be necessary to guarantee future gains. By this logic, we can hope that Germany’s substantial investment last month will alter this course.