Can you provide some solid examples of companies doing this in an industry with high capex? Yes futures exist but largely in commodity businesses. Because what you described sounds more like pre-purchase agreements which already exist. To have a futures market you would need investors and a product that is more of a commodity and not something highly engineered.

You are also forgetting that the payback period on a plant is not a single year, it will be over many years and most likely no buyer is wanting to arrange purchasing that far out.

I don’t see how what you described sounds is set in reality even for “smart manufacturers”.

There are futures markets for DRAM. Somewhat secretive (hard to find reliable price quotes) but they exist.