2025 Hollow-core optical fiber accelerates commercialization
In 2024, the application of next-generation optical fiber continued to break through, especially the progress of hollow-core optical fiber, which became the focus of the entire optical communication industry.
It is understood that the minimum limit of hollow-core optical fiber loss is as low as 0.1dB/km, which can theoretically support full-band transmission. In addition, it has low nonlinearity, low latency, low backscattering, low dispersion and high dispersion flatness, which is a potential disruptive innovation in transmission media.
As a world-leading cloud service provider, Microsoft is at the forefront of the layout of hollow-core optical fiber. In 2022, it acquired Lumenisity, a hollow-core optical fiber solution provider, and then started the large-scale commercialization process of hollow-core optical fiber. In November 2024, Microsoft announced plans to deploy 15,000 kilometers of hollow-core optical fiber within 24 months.
A stone stirs up a thousand waves, and Microsoft's plan has inspired the entire industry. In fact, the research and industrialization of hollow-core optical fiber in China is also in full swing: China Telecom has purchased hollow-core optical fiber for pilot verification for the first time; China Mobile held a hollow-core optical fiber technology achievement conference, including one internationally leading and two industry-first major achievement releases. At the manufacturer level, companies such as Changfei and Lingxian Technology have achieved a series of results.
Judging from the results of the pilot verification, hollow-core optical fiber has surpassed solid-core optical fiber in all aspects in terms of optical performance, but the engineering properties are far behind those of solid-core optical fiber, which will inevitably lead to relatively high costs for hollow-core optical fiber, thus bringing severe challenges to commercialization, which is also the key bottleneck for the large-scale application of hollow-core optical fiber.
In addition to engineering problems, hollow-core optical fiber also faces challenges such as lack of standards, mechanical strength and water vapor sensitivity. Optical fiber fusion and maintenance are all urgent problems to be solved. In view of this, the interconnection in the intelligent computing scene is expected to become the first application scene of hollow-core optical fiber due to the short distance and no need for splicing. This is also the consensus of the current industry.
Therefore, in order to promote the maturity of the hollow-core optical fiber industry, the industry should promote pilot verification and trial commercialization in a larger scope and more scenarios, develop and solve problems in practice, continuously optimize the process of hollow-core optical fiber, promote cost reduction, and lay the foundation for subsequent large-scale commercial use.
In 2024, the optical fiber industry is at a cyclical low, with insufficient demand and falling prices, but overseas opportunities are emerging and their weight is constantly increasing. At the same time, driven by AI, hollow-core optical fiber has ignited the innovation enthusiasm of the optical fiber and cable industry.
Looking forward to 2025, hollow-core optical fiber will accelerate commercialization with the joint efforts of the industry, and we also expect the industry as a whole to usher in a better development trend with the market recovery and changes in demand.