A brand new and highly effective participant has entered the superconducting magnet enviornment.
Recently, Wuhan Superconducting Magnet Technology Co., Ltd. introduced the completion of tens of tens of millions of yuan in angel – spherical financing, led by Lihe Science and Technology Innovation and adopted by Dongke Chuangxing. The funds will likely be used for workforce enlargement, R & D iteration of superconducting magnets, and manufacturing capability enlargement to speed up commercialization.
This startup, which originated from the National Pulsed Strong Magnetic Field Science Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, is coming into the core excessive – finish superconducting magnet market, which has lengthy been monopolized by abroad corporations, with a twin – breakthrough method of “no liquid helium + no framework”.
The technological basis of Wuhan Superconducting Magnet comes from the 15 – yr know-how accumulation of its founder, Song Yunxing.
Public info reveals that Song Yunxing, born in 1985, is a physician of engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Since 2012, he has labored on the General Electric Global Research Center and the GE US headquarters for eight years, deeply concerned within the core know-how of excessive – finish medical imaging superconducting magnets and taking part in and main a number of GE medical core magnet initiatives. In October 2020, Song Yunxing returned to China full – time and joined the National Pulsed Strong Magnetic Field Science Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, shifting to the home – oriented analysis and improvement path.
In the 5 years since his return, Song Yunxing’s workforce has achieved a number of leaps from scientific analysis tools to industrialized merchandise: In 2024, they developed a 1.5T head magnetic resonance imaging superconducting magnet system; in May 2025, the frameless conduction – cooled NbTi low – temperature superconducting magnet achieved secure operation at a peak area energy of 9.0T.
A reporter from Star Market Daily realized from Wuhan Superconducting Magnet that at present, its self – developed no – liquid – helium and no – framework collection of superconducting magnets have achieved small – batch supply, masking 4 main fields: scientific analysis in quantum, excessive – finish medical, industrial inspection, and managed nuclear fusion.
One of the most important bottlenecks within the commercialization of managed nuclear fusion is the price of the gadget. It is a standard understanding within the business that the price of magnets can account for about 30% – 40% of the price of a big – scale fusion reactor. The SPARC tokamak of the US firm CFS is very anticipated as a result of it makes use of excessive – temperature superconducting magnets to considerably scale back the dimensions and value of the gadget.
The tokamak gadget makes use of a powerful magnetic area to droop and confine plasma at a whole bunch of tens of millions of levels Celsius in a vacuum chamber. The magnetic area energy straight determines the plasma confinement impact and the vitality achieve ratio. The tokamak gadget was invented by a workforce led by Soviet scientist Azimovici and consists of an annular vacuum chamber, coils for producing magnetic fields, and different auxiliary services.
Currently, world nuclear fusion is at a vital turning level from scientific verification to engineering demonstration. On the one hand, the ITER gadget (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the world’s largest “artificial sun” cooperation venture) is within the closing stage of set up and commissioning, and the low – temperature check services for superconducting magnets have been put into operation; however, non-public fusion corporations are elevating funds intensively, and the compact, excessive – area – energy route has turn out to be the mainstream course for industrial exploration, resulting in a pointy enhance within the demand for top – efficiency, low – value, and mass – producible superconducting magnets.
An investor within the new vitality area analyzed to a reporter from Star Market Daily that Wuhan Superconducting Magnet’s frameless know-how route can scale back the general structural load and building value of the gadget by way of light-weight design. Its no – liquid – helium know-how eliminates the chance of being restricted by helium sources, simplifies the operation and upkeep system to a sure extent, and reduces the chance of quenching, enhancing the protection and reliability of lengthy – pulse operation. These three factors exactly handle the core ache factors of nuclear fusion shifting from the laboratory to industrial use – value, provide chain, and steady operation capacity.
The excessive – finish superconducting magnet market will not be a brand new area, however core applied sciences and pricing energy have lengthy been within the fingers of abroad producers reminiscent of Bruker, Siemens, and GE. The geopolitical nature of liquid helium sources, the technological boundaries of superconducting supplies, and the engineering expertise in magnet design type three entry thresholds.
The above – talked about investor launched that up to now three years, with the simultaneous explosion of home quantum computing, medical imaging, semiconductor inspection, and nuclear fusion industries, the window for home substitution of superconducting magnets is opening. Upstream enterprises reminiscent of Western Superconducting Technologies Co., Ltd. and Western Metal Materials Co., Ltd. have achieved giant – scale manufacturing of superconducting wires. In the center – stream magnet integration section, gamers with completely different know-how routes, reminiscent of Lianchuang Optoelectronics and Wuhan Superconducting Magnet, have emerged, and the synergy impact of the commercial chain from high to backside is regularly rising.
It is price noting that the completion of the angel – spherical financing is simply the start line for the industrialization of Wuhan Superconducting Magnet. For excessive – finish superconducting magnets to maneuver from laboratory verification to giant – scale industrial use, they face a minimum of three challenges.
The first is engineering scale – up. Currently, the 9.0T frameless magnet remains to be within the class of small – dimension scientific analysis. The magnets required for nuclear fusion gadgets have a caliber of a number of meters and a coil weight of a whole bunch of tons. After dimension enlargement, a collection of engineering issues reminiscent of electromagnetic drive, stress distribution, and cooling effectivity will come up, and the technical feasibility must be verified step-by-step.
The second is the maturity of the availability chain. The frameless construction locations greater necessities on the consistency of superconducting wires, the precision of winding know-how, and the efficiency of composite supplies. The supporting capacity of the upstream provide chain straight determines the mass – manufacturing value and yield.
The third is the shopper verification cycle. The determination – making course of for magnet procurement within the medical, scientific analysis, and nuclear fusion fields is lengthy, and the verification cycle is lengthy. How startups can penetrate the shopper system whereas sustaining the rhythm of know-how iteration is the core check for commercialization.
Globally, superconducting magnets are on the intersection of know-how route iteration and industrial sample reshaping. Whether groups like Wuhan Superconducting Magnet, which originated from nationwide giant – scale scientific services and possess core authentic applied sciences, can seize this spherical of business window interval and remodel laboratory benefits into market benefits nonetheless wants time to show.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Venture Capital Daily”, writer: Li Mingming, revealed by 36Kr with authorization.