We sat down with Marco Locatelli, the sales manager and COO of CAEN Technologies, to discuss the company’s current work and its long-term vision for accelerating fusion development.

CAEN specializes in addressing the instrumentation needs of nuclear physics and engineering industries. CAEN Group's brands include CAEN SyS, CAEN SpA, CAENels, Weeroc, and Nalu Scientific. CAEN Technologies' solutions in precision microelectronics, high-speed data acquisition, and mixed-signal integrated circuits support applications in particle and plasma physics, medical imaging, aerospace, and nuclear security.

How would you describe CAEN Technologies' role in the fusion energy supply chain today, and where do you see your strongest competitive differentiation?

CAEN is a key supplier in two main areas:

  1. Digital Data Acquisition and HV/LV Power Supplies for Plasma Diagnostics

  2. High‑Current Power Supplies, Precision Current Measurements and Quench Detection for Magnets

Our strength lies in our research‑oriented business model, which has enabled us to develop cutting‑edge technologies with the flexibility needed to adapt to a wide range of users and experimental scenarios.

Which types of fusion concepts or customers are currently the main drivers of your business?

Historically, we have supplied our products to major national labs and university‑driven experiments. In recent years, this has expanded into a strong and growing collaboration with private fusion startups. Many scientists at these companies previously worked in national programs, so they are already deeply familiar with our instrumentation.

What are the most important products or solution lines you currently provide to fusion customers, and what specific technical problems do they solve?

Our digitizers are the core of our offering. They support a wide variety of diagnostic setups thanks to the breadth of available models and the ability for users to customize firmware and software for optimized real‑time data analysis.

We complement these with an extensive family of HV power supplies for radiation detectors, as well as key accessories such as preamplifiers and VME crates.

In short: we provide advanced, highly customizable off‑the‑shelf solutions for fusion diagnostics that significantly reduce development time and cost while maintaining the highest levels of data quality and seamless integration with the user’s environment.

Are there any recently launched or upcoming products specifically tailored to fusion applications that you are particularly excited about?

We recently released our new generation of digitizers, which are an excellent fit for fusion applications and are already collecting data in some projects. It’s exciting to see features like open FPGA access, high‑bandwidth readout protocols, and large on‑board memories being pushed to their limits in such demanding environments.

Fusion is one of the most challenging fields for instrumentation, and it’s rewarding to see our technology operating at the edge of what’s possible.

Can you walk through one or two flagship fusion projects you have supplied, and what CAEN’s contribution enabled?

One of the most exciting recent projects was supplying a complete DAQ system for a high‑channel‑count neutron detector. Working closely with the user, we were able to quickly test and validate the solution on a small‑scale prototype. Thanks to the native scalability of our products, expanding to the full detector system was straightforward and free of unexpected roadblocks. We also rapidly designed and manufactured a dedicated crate for part of the electronics, fully aligned with the user’s requirements. It was rewarding to see all of our capabilities come together in a single, fast‑paced project.

What were the biggest technical or programmatic challenges in those projects, and how did your team work with partners to overcome them?

Fusion sits uniquely between research and industry. Beyond the scientific challenges, projects often involve practical constraints such as power distribution, electro‑mechanical design, software development, system integration.

CAEN has invested heavily in building these capabilities internally, so customers always find a knowledgeable partner ready to help identify and implement the best solution for each task.

How has the fusion segment of your business grown over the last few years?

It has grown steadily and significantly in both revenue and customer base. The current “fusion renaissance” has strengthened our long‑standing relationships with National Laboratories while bringing in many new users from private startups.

As fusion moves from R&D to early commercialization, how is CAEN adapting its product strategy, manufacturing capacity, and partnerships?

Fusion’s evolution is pushing us to adapt on multiple fronts. We are accelerating manufacturing, expanding quality testing, developing new software and firmware tools, and strengthening our mechanical engineering capabilities. To support this growth, CAEN has been hiring professionals across these areas.

What kinds of partnerships are most important to your growth strategy, and how do they influence your technology development priorities?

A key advantage for CAEN is that we treat a small university setup with the same care as a large national or industrial project, since these smaller systems often become the foundation for future large‑scale collaborations. This step‑by‑step approach allows us to build long‑term partnerships and gather invaluable feedback that directly shapes our technology development.

Much of what you see in our catalog today is the result of insights collected over a decade of small, medium, and large projects.

How do you balance customizable and catalogue products with the need for scalable, repeatable platforms?

Scalability is a native feature of many of our products, and it’s always a priority during development. Over the years, we’ve also learned how essential it is to offer flexibility within the product itself, enabling a wide range of user‑driven customization. To achieve this balance, we put significant effort into the design phase, relying as much as possible on commercially available technologies and standard protocols. This approach ensures easy customization and integration while still delivering the performance required for demanding fusion applications. When that isn’t enough, our engineering team is fully equipped to develop custom features on existing products or design entirely new solutions from scratch.

What milestones in fusion do you think will most significantly impact CAEN Technologies’ growth trajectory?

The success of the first fusion demonstrators currently under development will be a major turning point — both for CAEN and for the industry as a whole.

What else should fusion machine developers know about CAEN’s product offerings?

That we are more than a COTS provider. While off‑the‑shelf solutions are a core part of our identity, we also have extensive experience in fully custom system design. We can be a strong partner in this space, with deep expertise in hardware, firmware, and software.

To learn more about CAEN Technologies, contact Marco Locatelli at [email protected] or visit their website.