Germany’s Proxima Fusion has signed agreements with semiconductor company Fujikura and fusion energy peer Kyoto Fusioneering with the aim of developing a supply chain for critical parts in Europe.

The agreements, signed by Munich-based Proxima on the occasion of a state visit by Germany chancellor Friedrich Merz to Tokyo, bolster both countries’ ambitions to bring fusion energy to the grid in the next decade, a statement said.

The first agreement, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Proxima, a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, and Fujikura, will see the two study the development of a production centre for high-temperature superconductor (HTS) tape in the Lower Saxony region of Germany.