Theres no way in hell the US will be anywhere close to first in developing stable fusion power.

Looking at the projects underway I agree with you, however the US was the first to produce a nuclear fusion reaction with a net positive energy result at the NIF in 2022. source The subsequent 5 events have increase net positive yields significantly with the 2025 experiment yielding more than 200% net energy gain.

To be able to create a energy net positive even on-demand has to be very helpful for research. I don't know of any other country that is capable of doing that yet.