Russia and China dominate Sightline Climate’s new SMR Leaderboard

The early lead in small modular reactors belongs to Moscow and Beijing.

Sightline Climate’s first SMR Leaderboard offers a ranking of reactor vendors based on proximity to deployment and bankability. Four of the top five spots are backed by the Russian and Chinese states. CNNC and Rosatom, through subsidiaries, lead across technology maturity, available financing, and supply chain readiness.

The concentration is striking, but it’s not quite as dramatic as it looks. Those four spots are really concentrated across two state systems. The more consequential movement may be further down the table. US vendors including TerraPower, X-energy, Kairos Power, and Oklo are climbing as hyperscaler offtake agreements and DOE support strengthen their finance and deployment scores.

Outside of Russia and China, the US has the most reactor vendors (10/20), with five in the top ten, led by GE Hitachi in second place, while Europe trails (4/20), with only one, Rolls-Royce, in the top ten.

While large nuclear incumbents, like Westinghouse, KAERI, and EDF, have the benefit of  experience and supply chains, scrappy startup vendors are closing the gap.

How the Leaderboards are built

A Leaderboard is a decision-grade ranking of companies supplying critical technologies to the power and industrial sectors. They are built for innovation teams, strategists, and investors who need a clear view of which vendors are actually ready to deliver at scale.

Rather than high-level technology comparisons, Leaderboards provide granular, vendor-level benchmarks built on verifiable data. Each company is evaluated based on objective metrics that meaningfully signify its ability to deploy at scale: technology maturity, deployment track record, financial strength, and supply chain depth.

The rankings are fully integrated into the Sightline Climate platform and grounded in the Sector Readiness Framework. Every score is traceable to underlying project data, financing activity, and licensing milestones, allowing users to move from headline position to detailed diligence. As new projects advance, capital is committed, or timelines slip, the Leaderboards update to reflect those shifts.

Utilities and IPPs can use the rankings to justify procurement decisions. Infrastructure investors and banks can use them to concentrate diligence on vendors showing portfolio-scale readiness. Suppliers and early-stage investors can use them to benchmark competitive positions and identify credible partners.

The result is a current market snapshot: who leads, why they lead, and what would need to change for the rankings to shift.

Methodology

Built on Sightline Climate’s Sector Readiness Framework and fully integrated into the Sightline Climate platform, every ranking is traceable to the underlying data and analysis. This allows users to validate assumptions, stress-test decisions, and track how competitive positions evolve. Sightline clients can access the full dataset underpinning each leaderboard. See it on the platform here.

Sightline's AI engine continuously ingests and structures data from thousands of sources (filings, regulatory dockets, industry databases, and our expert network), applying domain-specific AI to extract entities, detect signals, and transform raw information into decision-ready datasets, all reinforced through human analyst review. Our proprietary Readiness Framework scores technologies and markets across the seven dimensions based on how utilities, banks, and investors assess readiness: technology maturity, economics, policy, finance, players, deployment, and demand. 

The SMR Leaderboard draws directly from this system. Scores are updated as projects advance, capital is committed, or timelines change.

• Definition: Small modular reactors are typically 20–300 MW, but the leaderboard includes larger designs (up to ~470 MW).
• Scope: Land-based projects only. (No subs!)
• Scoring: Vendors receive up to 25 points each across four categories: tech readiness, deployment, finance, and supply chain.
• Estimates: For state-backed programs and private companies with limited disclosure, finance values may be presented as best-estimates.

Dive deeper into the Leaderboard

Clients can explore the full SMR Leaderboard on the Sightline Climate platform and dig deeper into the underlying data and analysis behind each vendor’s score, from licensing and deployment milestones to capital flows and project-level detail.

If you’re evaluating reactor vendors, structuring partnerships, or allocating capital in advanced nuclear, the SMR Leaderboard provides a clear starting point.

‍Talk to our team to learn how this Leaderboard can support procurement, diligence, and strategic decision-making.