Proxima Fusion bets €140M on a critical fusion ingredient dominated by Asian suppliers
Proxima Fusion bets €140M on a critical fusion ingredient dominated by Asian suppliers
Proxima Fusion 斥资 1.4 亿欧元押注关键核聚变材料，打破亚洲供应商垄断
Proxima Fusion is betting on a critical ingredient for its fusion reactors: superconducting tape. Proxima Fusion said Wednesday it plans to build a €140 million ($162.6 million) factory to produce fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape, which will provide the startup with key component to its reactor design.
Proxima Fusion 正在为其核聚变反应堆押注一种关键材料：超导带。Proxima Fusion 周三表示，计划投资 1.4 亿欧元（约合 1.626 亿美元）建设一座工厂，用于生产核聚变级高温超导（HTS）带，这将为该初创公司的反应堆设计提供核心组件。
The move comes months after Proxima raised €411 million in a round that catapulted the company up the ranks of the best-funded fusion startups. The Germany-based fusion startup plans to use a mix of public and private funding to complete the factory, with the state of Lower Saxony chipping in €21 million.
此举距离 Proxima 完成 4.11 亿欧元的融资仅过去数月，那轮融资使其跻身资金最雄厚的核聚变初创公司行列。这家总部位于德国的核聚变初创公司计划通过公共和私人资金混合的方式完成工厂建设，其中下萨克森州政府将出资 2100 万欧元。
Proxima will use HTS tape to generate powerful magnetic fields to contain the plasma required to spark fusion reactions. The startup’s demonstration plant will use 20,000 kilometers of HTS tape, while its commercial power plant will need twice as much. Today, the vast majority of HTS tape is made in China and Japan.
Proxima 将利用高温超导带产生强大的磁场，以约束引发核聚变反应所需的等离子体。该初创公司的示范工厂将使用 2 万公里的高温超导带，而其商业发电厂的需求量则是这一数字的两倍。目前，绝大多数高温超导带产自中国和日本。
HTS tape emerged a little over a decade ago as one of the fundamental breakthroughs that enabled the current generation of fusion power startups. Because it can generate strong magnetic fields at relatively high temperatures, HTS tape enables smaller and more efficient reactor designs.
高温超导带在十多年前问世，是推动当前一代核聚变初创公司发展的根本性突破之一。由于它能在相对较高的温度下产生强磁场，高温超导带使得反应堆设计能够更小巧、更高效。
While fusion power is expected to consume a large portion of the world’s HTS tape production, other companies like Veir are using it to boost the efficiency and power density of data centers.
虽然预计核聚变能源将消耗全球高温超导带产量的很大一部分，但像 Veir 这样的其他公司也正在利用它来提高数据中心的效率和功率密度。