Proxima Fusion bets €140M on a critical fusion ingredient dominated by Asian suppliers
German fusion startup Proxima Fusion plans to construct a €140 million ($162.6 million) factory to manufacture fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape, a core component for its reactor design. The company said it will finance the plant with a mix of private and public funds, including a €21 million contribution from the state of Lower Saxony.
Why It Matters
HTS tape is essential for producing the strong magnetic fields fusion reactors need, and most current supply is concentrated in China and Japan — building domestic capacity could reduce reliance on those suppliers and support the scaling of fusion power. Proxima’s factory also follows a recent €411 million funding round that significantly increased the startup’s financial resources.
Key Facts
- Company: Proxima Fusion (Germany-based)
- Planned factory investment: €140 million ($162.6 million)
- Recent funding round: €411 million raised months earlier
- Public funding contribution: €21 million from the state of Lower Saxony
- HTS tape needed for demonstration plant: 20,000 kilometers of HTS tape
Proxima Fusion announced plans to build a factory dedicated to producing high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape, committing €140 million (about $162.6 million) to the project. The company said it will combine private capital with public support to complete the facility, and that Lower Saxony has agreed to provide €21 million toward the effort. The investment comes after a substantial financing round in which Proxima secured €411 million.
The startup intends to use the HTS tape as a primary means to generate the intense magnetic fields required to confine plasma inside its reactor design. For its demonstration plant Proxima expects to need roughly 20,000 kilometers of HTS tape, and projects that a future commercial power plant would require about twice that amount.
Today, the bulk of HTS tape production is concentrated in China and Japan, a supply dynamic Proxima’s factory could begin to address. HTS tape has been a pivotal enabling technology for the latest wave of fusion startups because it can produce strong magnetic fields while operating at relatively higher temperatures, allowing for smaller and more efficient reactor architectures.
Beyond fusion, demand for HTS tape is already growing in other sectors; the article cites companies such as Veir using the material to improve data-center efficiency and power density. As fusion developers move toward commercial-scale plants, demand for HTS tape is expected to become a major factor shaping global supply chains and manufacturing capacity.
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Original source: TechCrunch