Shanghai Superconductor Breaks Ground on a 2.5 Billion Yuan Tape Mega-Factory
Shanghai Superconductor Technology has broken ground on a large new tape factory in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang district, backed by a planned 2.5 billion yuan investment. The plant targets at least 15,000 km per year of high-temperature superconductor tape within two to three years, several times the company’s current output. It is one of the largest single superconductor manufacturing projects announced anywhere.
The new plant is a large step up in capacity
According to a Shanghai municipal government account published in early July 2025, Shanghai Superconductor broke ground on 29 June 2025 on a roughly 100-acre site on Xiupu Road in the Zhangjiang area of Pudong. The planned investment is 2.5 billion yuan, and the company set a target of no less than 15,000 km per year of tape capacity within two to three years. Its existing factory produces about 4,000 km per year and cannot keep up with demand.
The company’s chairman was quoted saying the new capacity should support annual sales exceeding 5 billion yuan at current prices. Local authorities issued the required permits on the same day as the land acquisition, which the account described as a first for the district. (These figures come from a Chinese-language government source and are reported as stated there.)
The expansion tracks surging demand for tape
High-temperature superconductor (HTS) tape, the rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductor covered in our materials guide, has become a supply-chain bottleneck as fusion developers and grid projects scale up. Shanghai Superconductor is one of a small number of manufacturers producing it at volume, and it supplies both domestic and international customers.
Chinese capacity is scaling alongside Japan’s and Europe’s
The plant is part of a broader global expansion in tape production, matching capacity moves by Japanese and European makers responding to the same demand, set out in where the tape goes. A target of 15,000 km per year from a single site would place Shanghai Superconductor among the largest HTS tape producers in the world if achieved on schedule.