Proxima Fusion targets Europe’s first large-scale HTS tape facility

The signing in Hanover starts the site assessment process that will determine where in Lower Saxony the facility is built

(Image courtesy of Proxima Fusion)

Proxima Fusion and the German state of Lower Saxony signed a memorandum of understanding in Hanover on September 9, 2026, to build what is planned as Europe’s first large-scale industrial site for fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape. Around €140 million is planned for the first two project phases, running to the end of 2029, split equally between public and private funding. Lower Saxony has committed €21 million toward the public share.

A supply dependency the deal targets directly

HTS tape is currently manufactured at industrial scale primarily in Asia. Proxima’s own supply chain reflects that: the company signed a contract with Tokyo-based Faraday Factory Japan in June 2025 to deliver HTS tape for its demonstration stellarator magnet, due in 2027. The scale involved is considerable. Proxima requires approximately 20,000 kilometres of HTS tape for its Alpha demonstrator alone, plus a further 40,000 kilometres for the planned Stellaris power plant.

Proxima’s second state-level MoU in Germany this year

This is not Proxima’s first memorandum of understanding with a German state in 2026. In February, the company signed an MoU with Bavaria, utility group RWE, and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, covering a broader roadmap that includes the Alpha demonstrator near Garching and the planned Stellaris power plant at the former Gundremmingen nuclear site. The Lower Saxony agreement covers different ground, targeting the HTS tape manufacturing capacity that both projects, and the wider stellarator supply chain, will need.

What the memorandum actually commits to

The MoU lays the groundwork rather than a finished construction plan, covering assessment of potential sites within Lower Saxony, a milestone-based funding and support structure, faster permitting processes, and partnerships with companies, municipalities and research institutions across the state. Proxima is in discussions with several international technology partners about bringing established HTS manufacturing expertise to the project. The plan sits within a wider effort involving more than 50 companies already working through the Alpha Alliance to build a European fusion supply chain, and fusion-grade HTS production closes what the agreement describes as a decisive gap in that chain.

Site selection and partner talks come next

Site assessment across Lower Saxony, partner negotiations and the milestone funding structure are the near-term steps set out in the agreement, with the first two project phases due to run to the end of 2029. That milestone-based structure is what carries the plan from signed agreement toward a built facility.

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