AI-driven optical fiber cable industry experiences high prosperity; listed companies in the supply chain ramp up high-end innovation

Securities Daily reporter Li Wanchenxi

Market expectations for the fiber optic cable industry’s business climate continue to rise.

On April 2, the communications wire and cable and supporting segment strengthened against the trend, with the segment’s overall gain exceeding 3%. Nanjing Hwamai Technology Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Huiyuan Optical Communications Co., Ltd. hit the daily trading limit. Leading stocks such as YOFC (YOFC Optics and Communications Co., Ltd., hereinafter referred to as “YOFC Optics and Communications”) followed up sharply; YOFC Optics and Communications even touched the daily trading limit during the session, setting a historical high of 338.80 yuan per share. As of that day’s close, the price reached 332.49 yuan per share, with a cumulative gain of over 180% since 2026.

According to a research report released by China Securities Construction and Investment in the past few days, since the third quarter of 2025, fiber optic prices in the Chinese market have continued to move upward, reflecting improving demand and overall tight supply. With strong overseas demand and impressive export performance, it further confirms robust global fiber optic cable market demand.

He Jiyong, general manager of Guangdong Cucun Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter that the fiber optic cable industry is entering a long-awaited high-cycle period of strong business conditions. The industry shows an “all-around rise in volume and price” trend: ordinary fiber optic prices have risen significantly, while gains for high-end specialty fibers have been even more pronounced and command higher premiums. Overseas market demand has also concentrated and erupted. With supply and demand staying relatively tight, the industry is shifting from the past low-price competition toward structural shortages. High-end positioning and expansion overseas have become the core mainline of this round of recovery.

AI-driven “all-around rise in volume and price” in the fiber optic cable industry

As the core carrier of optical communications, fiber optics are the “information backbone” for AI computing power network transmission. Data from the Center for Commodities Research (CRU) shows that in 2025, China’s fiber optic shipment volume reached 372 million fiber-kilometers, up 7.5% year over year. It accounted for 56.3% of the global total shipment volume, and the industry’s position in the global supply chain has continued to strengthen.

“This round of the fiber optic cable industry’s surge is fundamentally different from the traditional infrastructure cycle driven by fiber-to-the-home and 5G base station construction,” Liang Zhenpeng, chief consultant of Beijing Zifan Haian Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd., said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter. “AI computing power infrastructure has already become the absolute core engine pulling industry growth. Its demand for fiber optic cables is not just a simple increase in quantity; it’s a dual breakthrough in both scale and specifications.”

Liang Zhenpeng further explained that AI data centers need to build internal interconnection networks that are non-blocking, with ultra-low latency and ultra-high speed. The model training process has extremely strict requirements for transmission latency and loss, directly triggering rigid demand for high-end products such as ultra-low-loss and hollow-core fiber. These high-end fiber optic cables have higher prices and gross margins, becoming a key driving force for the industry’s “price increase.”

“Judging from the industry’s current conditions, the fiber optic cable industry has already shown an imbalance between supply and demand, and it will be difficult to ease in the short term,” Zhang Xinyuan, research director at Beijing Kefangde Technology Development Co., Ltd., said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter. “Upstream optical rod products have long capacity expansion cycles and high investment thresholds, so in the short term they cannot form large-scale additional production capacity. Meanwhile, the industry’s overall capacity utilization rate has stayed at a high level. Against the background of supply-demand mismatch, industry inventory continues to fall, further worsening the imbalance.”

CRU’s March data shows that the price of the global benchmark G.652.D single-mode fiber in China was 83.4 yuan per fiber-kilometer (excluding tax), up sharply from the price of 17.61 yuan per fiber-kilometer released in November 2025.

Meanwhile, an overseas demand breakout further amplifies the “increased volume” momentum in the fiber optic cable industry. China Securities Construction and Investment’s research report notes that in February this year, China exported 3,779.9 tons of optical fiber for a value of 790 million yuan; year over year, the volume and value increased by 63.6% and 126.8%, respectively.

Guangying Tianxia (Beijing) Information Consulting Co., Ltd. expects that by 2027, the share of fiber optic demand contributed by AI-driven data center internal and inter-data-center interconnection (DCI) scenarios will rise sharply from less than 5% in 2024 to 35%.

Cao Zhe, chief investment officer of Beijing Aivon Zhilue Investment Management Co., Ltd., said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter that in the future, as AI foundation models iterate, computing power networks expand, and 6G technology is rolled out, fiber optic cable application scenarios will keep broadening—from extending beyond data center interconnection and cross-border computing power transmission into fields such as industrial AI and remote healthcare. Leading-edge products will accelerate commercial deployment, and the industry’s “all-around rise in volume and price” trend is expected to continue.

Listed companies in the industrial chain increase efforts on high-end innovation

During the industry’s high-cycle period of strong business conditions, major listed fiber optic cable companies are focusing on high-end innovation, stepping up technical research and development and capacity planning, and seizing opportunities for AI optical interconnection development.

A relevant executive at Jiangsu Hengtong Optic-Electric Co., Ltd. said that the expansion project of its AI advanced optical fiber materials R&D and manufacturing center is being advanced in an orderly manner. The construction of the plant facilities for the Phase 1 expansion project has been successfully completed, and the project is currently in the equipment installation stage. To meet continuously growing market demand for specialty fibers such as multi-mode, multi-core, and hollow-core fibers, the Phase 1 investment will add advanced equipment such as processes, inspection, and auxiliary support to produce specialty fibers including ultra-low-loss hollow-core fiber, ultra-low-loss multi-core fiber, and high-performance multi-band multi-mode fiber.

In an earlier investor relations activity record, YOFC Optics and Communications stated that it has built a “three supers” (i.e., ultra-high capacity, ultra-low latency, and ultra-low loss) full-optical network solution centered on AI next-generation optical fiber and oriented toward intelligent computing infrastructure. For the massive data flow needs within data centers, the company coordinates high-end multi-mode fiber with ultra-high-speed optical modules to achieve efficient data transmission over short distances and flexible interconnection.

A relevant executive at Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Co., Ltd. said that in the area of hollow-core fiber, based on its self-developed end-to-end capabilities—from hollow-core fiber simulation design and mother rod preparation to fiber drawing—the company has, for the first time in China, achieved large-scale deployment within AI data centers of O-band anti-resonant hollow-core fiber, and it has also entered a pilot stage in China Telecom’s live network.

Wu Yumeng, a research assistant at the Digital Trade Law Research Center of Shanghai Sanda University, said in an interview with Securities Daily reporter that top fiber optic cable companies should continue to increase R&D investment in high-end products such as hollow-core fiber, multi-core fiber, and ultra-low-loss fiber. Leveraging the advantages of a complete domestic industrial chain, they should further expand into overseas markets where demand for AI computing power is strong, enhance their global market share, and consolidate their competitive edge.