Proxima Fusion, Europe’s best-funded fusion company, will invest €140mn in Lower Saxony to produce superconducting tape for fusion reactor magnets, with €21mn from the German state. The Google-backed German start-up aims to establish a local supply chain amid US dominance in fusion funding, where American start-ups captured 70% of global investment ($2.1bn) in the first eight months of 2026. Proxima has raised €650mn since 2023, including public grants.

CEO Francesco Sciortino stressed the need for European supply chain resilience, noting that only a few manufacturers in China and Japan currently produce the critical material. Fusion, which fuses light atomic nuclei to mimic the sun’s reaction, holds potential for vast energy output—one gramme of fuel could equal 57 barrels of oil—but no reactor has yet achieved commercial power generation. The move reflects broader efforts to build a European industrial base in fusion as private capital floods the sector.