Since the beginning of this year, China's fiber optic industry has experienced a rare "simultaneous increase in quantity and price" trend. According to reports, a fiber optic production company in Jiangsu has revealed that the price of G.657.A2 special fiber optic for specific scenarios has skyrocketed from 32 yuan per core kilometer last year to 240 yuan, an increase of up to 650%. At the same time, the industry's production and sales volume generally increased by over 35% in the first quarter, with some companies growing nearly five times. What is the driving logic behind such a rare trend of "both quantity and price rising"? Why has the overseas sales of domestic optical fiber increased significantly? Where will the future industry go? With these questions in mind, the reporter interviewed relevant experts. First question: Why has the price of domestic fiber optic suddenly skyrocketed? Previously, fiber optic cables were installed in thousands of households, but now they are installed next to every GPU card. ”Gu Rentao, a long-term professor at the School of Information and Communication Engineering of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, pointed out that the underlying logic of this wave of fiber optic demand explosion has undergone a fundamental transformation - from traditional 5G network construction and fiber to the home, to a comprehensive shift towards high-speed optical interconnection within the intelligent computing center. As the training scale of generative artificial intelligence models approaches trillions of parameters, the internal data traffic of data centers is growing exponentially. Data shows that the global demand for fiber optic cables in data centers will increase by 75.9% year-on-year in 2025, with a usage of 69.6 million core kilometers, and is expected to exceed 100 million core kilometers by 2026. When introducing the latest intelligent computing optical interconnection achievements of the team, Gu Rentao said, "The efficient and flexible optical switching structure helps alleviate the pressure of the sharp increase in east-west traffic inside the intelligent computing center; even so, the fiber optic demand of a large-scale intelligent computing center will still be 5 to 10 times that of traditional data centers." On the other hand, the demand explosion is the rigid "tight spell" on the supply side. About 70% of the profits in the fiber optic industry chain are concentrated in the upstream technology barrier high fiber preform link, which has an expansion cycle of 1.5 to 2 years and a huge investment scale. During the early period of industry downturn, a large number of small and medium-sized manufacturers cleared their production capacity, and top manufacturers were cautious in their expansion strategies, resulting in a serious shortage of effective global supply capacity. This is a typical lag effect in technology intensive industries, and repairing the supply-demand gap takes time, "said Gu Rentao. Second question: Why has the overseas sales of domestically produced optical fibers also increased significantly? Faced with the global market gap, domestic optical fibers have become the main force in filling the demand with their hardcore technology and delivery capabilities. Data shows that the overseas sales of Chinese fiber optic enterprises in the first quarter increased by over 55% year-on-year, especially in regions such as North America and Southeast Asia, where orders in hand have been scheduled until the first quarter of next year. The significant increase in overseas sales of domestically produced optical fibers is a reflection of comprehensive strength. ”Gu Rentao analyzed that the first step is to break through technological barriers. Chinese enterprises have fully mastered the three mainstream fiber preform preparation processes of plasma chemical vapor deposition (PCVD), external vapor deposition (OVD), and axial vapor deposition (VAD), and advanced technologies such as hollow core fibers have reached the world's advanced level. Secondly, with significant advantages in cost and delivery cycle, the domestic industrial chain is well-equipped and the response speed far exceeds that of European and American manufacturers. In addition, the stability of the supply network and the strengthening of supply chain resilience by Chinese enterprises in complex international environments through global local production layout are also important factors. According to statistics, Chinese manufacturers currently hold over 60% of the global fiber optic cable market share, with 70% of the world's fiber preform and fiber optic production capacity concentrated in China. Taking industry leader Changfei Fiber as an example, as the only enterprise in the world that simultaneously masters the three mainstream fiber preform processes, its self-sufficiency rate of fiber preform reaches 100%, and its market share in the G.654. E high-end fiber optic market is as high as 80% to 90%. Hengtong Optoelectronics, Zhongtian Technology and other enterprises also occupy a leading position in the self-sufficiency of fiber preform and special fiber fields. Question 3: How can domestic optical fibers seize the high-end market in the future? How should domestic fiber optic cables develop in the future in the face of the short-term dividend of "simultaneous increase in quantity and price"? Gu Rentao pointed out that with the gradual release of new production capacity in the next two years, prices may face downward pressure, and domestic enterprises must build a long-term moat through high-tech premiums. Currently, cutting-edge technologies such as hollow fiber and multi-core fiber are accelerating their transition from the laboratory to industrialization. At the recently held 2026 American Optical Communication Exhibition, the new generation of ultra-low loss hollow core optical fiber exhibited by Chinese companies has attracted much attention. Its transmission delay is reduced by 31% compared to traditional optical fiber. This breakthrough can significantly shorten the cross node transmission time of distributed training of large models, which is of great significance for improving the efficiency of AI computing power. At present, domestic telecommunications operators have launched pilot deployments for such cutting-edge optical fibers. The deployment of artificial intelligence computing infrastructure and the deepening of the 'East West Computing' project and the national integrated computing power network will support the high prosperity of the industry until 2027. ”According to Gu Rentao's analysis, domestic fiber optic cables are at a critical juncture from underestimation of cycles to a significant increase in value. In the future, mastering core technologies and the discourse power of high-end products, being vigilant about the pace of new production capacity landing and the uncertainty of AI technology landing, will be the key to the healthy development of the industry. (New Society)