What are the impacts of AI computing power demand blowout? - Optical communication industry ushered in high growth demand
2026/5/22 15:54:21
According to data released by LightCounting in January this year, the global Ethernet optical module market size is expected to reach $26.084 billion in 2026, of which the total penetration rate of 800G and 1.6T optical modules will increase by 53.67 percentage points compared with 2023.
The explosive growth of AI applications is the core driver of the optical module market. The token processing volume of cloud providers such as Google is growing exponentially, directly driving demand for high-speed optical modules. 800G optical modules have become the market mainstream, 1.6T technology is about to enter the stage of large-scale deployment, and leading manufacturers have already begun R&D efforts for 3.2T modules. It is projected that demand for 800G optical modules will reach 45 million units by 2026.
In terms of technology pathways, Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) and silicon photonics have emerged as key focal points. At IFOC 2025, H3C successfully demonstrated interoperability between CPO and 800G optical modules; at ECOC 2025, Corning introduced a removable fiber connector solution, indicating that CPO is transitioning from a concept to system integration.
