建设聚变电厂不仅需要攻克物理难题，还意味着要在机器准备好运行前数年，确保数千公里专用材料以及加热和供燃等离子体所需设备的供应。
Building a fusion power plant takes more than getting the physics right. It also means securing thousands of kilometres of specialised materials and the equipment needed to heat and fuel the plasma, years before the machine is ready to run.
总部位于慕尼黑的 Proxima Fusion 正通过与两家日本公司达成的新协议，着手解决这一供应链问题。
Munich-based Proxima Fusion is working on that supply chain through two new agreements with Japanese companies.
这两份谅解备忘录于周三在东京签署，当时正值德国总理弗里德里希·默茨访问日本。
The memorandums of understanding were signed in Tokyo on Wednesday, during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to Japan.
其中一份协议由电缆和光纤制造商 Fujikura（藤仓）签署，涉及高温超导（HTS）带材。双方将研究在德国下萨克森州建厂生产该材料的可行性。
One agreement, with cable and optical fibre manufacturer Fujikura, covers high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape. The companies will study the feasibility of building a factory in Lower Saxony, Germany, to produce it.
第二份协议由 Kyoto Fusioneering（京都聚变工程）签署，涉及聚变装置内部等离子体加热和供燃设备。
The second, with Kyoto Fusioneering, covers equipment for heating and fuelling the plasma inside a fusion machine.
这两份协议均非正式订单或建厂承诺。但它们共同表明，聚变早期开发者若想从实验装置迈向电厂，必须尽早锁定关键组件。
Neither agreement is a firm order or a commitment to build. But together, they show how early fusion developers must secure critical components if they want to move from experimental machines to power plants.
Proxima 正在开发仿星器，该装置利用扭曲磁场约束被加热至极高温度的等离子体。其磁体依赖 HTS 带材——一种在低温下可无电阻导电、并能在极强磁场中工作的材料。
Proxima is developing stellarators, which use twisted magnetic fields to confine plasma heated to extreme temperatures. The magnets rely on HTS tape, a material that carries electricity without resistance when cooled and can operate in very strong magnetic fields.
该公司预计，其计划于 2030 年代初投入使用的测试装置 Alpha 将需要约 2 万公里带材。
The company expects to need around 20,000 kilometres of tape for Alpha, its planned test machine, due in the early 2030s.
公司表示，后续每座商用 Stellaris 电厂将需要约 4 万公里带材。
Each commercial Stellaris power plant that follows would require about 40,000 kilometres, the company said.
据《海湾时报》报道，Fujikura 已在向聚变行业供货。上个月，美国公司 Commonwealth Fusion Systems 向这家日本制造商订购了逾 1 万公里带材。
Fujikura is already supplying the fusion industry. Last month, US company Commonwealth Fusion Systems ordered more than 10,000 kilometres of tape from the Japanese manufacturer, Khaleej Times reported.
Kyoto Fusioneering 将与 Proxima 合作研发回旋管，利用强微波加热等离子体，以及管理聚变反应中氢燃料的燃料循环系统。
Kyoto Fusioneering will work with Proxima on gyrotrons, which use powerful microwaves to heat plasma, as well as the fuel cycle that manages the hydrogen fuel used in fusion reactions.
这家日本公司还将把其技术引入德国国家聚变中心计划，该计划由研究部于今年启动，初始资金为1.25亿欧元。
The Japanese company will also bring its technology to Germany’s national Fusion Hubs programme, launched by the research ministry this year with €125 million in initial funding.
“全球聚变竞赛将在工厂和供应链中决出胜负，”Proxima首席执行官兼联合创始人Francesco Sciortino表示。
“The global race to fusion will be won in factories and supply chains,” said Francesco Sciortino, Proxima’s CEO and co-founder.
德国希望拥有世界首座聚变发电厂，而Proxima正是这一雄心核心所在的公司之一。
Germany wants to host the world’s first fusion power plant, and Proxima is one of the companies at the centre of that ambition.
这家初创企业源自马克斯·普朗克等离子体物理研究所，据该研究所透露，于7月融资4.11亿欧元，估值达24亿欧元。公司员工约200人。
Spun out of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, the startup raised €411 million in July at a valuation of €2.4 billion, according to the institute. It employs around 200 people.
这些协议也反映出欧洲更广泛的推动，即在本土附近建立战略技术和制造产能。英飞凌正在奥地利投资11亿欧元建设芯片厂，而获取电力已成为欧洲人工智能数据中心的一大制约因素。
The agreements also reflect a broader European push to build strategic technology and manufacturing capacity closer to home. Infineon is investing €1.1 billion in a chip plant in Austria, while access to electricity has become a major constraint for European AI data centres.
对Proxima而言，当前的任务是将这些初步协议转化为可靠的供应链。其首台测试机器距离问世仍有数年，但工业基础工作必须提前展开。
For Proxima, the task now is to turn these preliminary agreements into a reliable supply chain. Its first test machine is still years away, but the industrial groundwork has to start well before then.