The problem with fusion was that until recently it was extremely expensive to build experimental facilities with necessary parameters for meaningful progress. Nobody was ready for that.
What happens recently is that due to technological improvement (powerful superconductive magnets, better simulations and faster controls) it is now possible to test things at regimes close to positive energy output on much smaller scales. So these days one can do useful investigation with 1e7 in funds, not 1e9. This is the reason for all various fusion startups.
Now, it does not mean that we are going to have fusion soon, but at least it is now only 20 years from any moment, not 40.