The race is on to build the first fusion power plant — and Europe is looking to Japan for help

Munich-based Proxima Fusion has signed agreements with Japanese firms Fujikura and Kyoto Fusioneering, strengthening international cooperation as it pursues a commercial fusion power plant. The partnership could support Europe’s effort to develop a new source of clean energy and reduce reliance on imported resources.

The memoranda were signed in Tokyo on 28 October, with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz present. Proxima is developing a stellarator, which uses magnetic fields to confine super-heated plasma; its agreement with Kyoto Fusioneering will expand work on gyrotrons, which heat the plasma with high-power microwaves.