Seems like the premise is that building these small experimental stellarators is a major cost in doing fusion research and therefore if we can bring the cost of

Seems like the premise is that building these small experimental stellarators is a major cost in doing fusion research and therefore if we can bring the cost of these down from billions to less than a million, more teams can do more research faster, even if this specific design never generates any economic power. I have no idea if this premise is true or not -- I'm just a layman who read the article.