AT&T announced a multiyear fiber optic cable supply agreement with Corning worth more than $3 billion in total. Corning will continue delivering fiber and cable for AT&T's home broadband expansion. AT&T said average monthly traffic per fiber user has surpassed 1 TB, five times the 2016 level.
Why we recommend it: The original paper gives the contract value and user traffic growth, helping to understand the scale of fiber demand driven by AI and video
Sep 27Sun
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C114 Communications Network · Optical CommunicationsOptics industryOptics and AIPicksAI score6363
Hengtong Optic-Electric has released a private placement plan to raise up to CNY 6.636 billion for next-generation optical fiber R&D and production, construction of high-end optical new materials in Inner Mongolia, and advanced AI optical interconnect projects. The issuance will target no more than 35 investors.
Why we recommend it: The original article lists the investment directions, helping to understand the optical fiber leader's spending on AI optical interconnect
Sep 23Wed
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OFweek Optics Network · NewsOptics industryOptics and AIPicksAI score6161
On September 17, Largan Precision spent CNY 1.172 billion to acquire about 2,259 ping of land and 3,695 ping of buildings in Nantun, Taichung. This was its seventh real estate transaction since late June, bringing the total to CNY 8.078 billion. Chairman Lin Enping confirmed in July that the company had received its first fiber array order from a customer, with the land purchases paving the way for mass production in 2027.
Why we recommend it: The original article gives the pace and value of the land purchases, showing the scale of the smartphone lens leader's bet on CPO fiber arrays
Sep 22Tue
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C114 Communications Network · Optical CommunicationsOptics industryOptics and AIPicksAI score6161
LightCounting's latest quarterly report says NPO dominated much of the discussion at the recent CIOE, much like the industry's enthusiasm for LPO a few years ago. However, sales of retimed pluggable optical modules continue to hit new highs, with Ethernet optical modules accounting for the majority of overall sales.
Huawei and the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics have signed a strategic cooperation agreement, making AI + optics a core focus, with Huawei pledging priority support in computing resources and AI teams. Earlier, on September 17, Huawei unveiled the Ascend 960 superpod using near-package optics (NPO) at Huawei Connect 2026, employing 5,500 in-house Hi-ONE optical engines.
Why we recommend it: The source text places the industry-academia partnership alongside the NPO superpod, showing Huawei's overall strategy in optical interconnects and AI optics
Sep 20Sun
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C114 Communications Network · Optical CommunicationsOptics industryOptics and AIPicksAI score6161
The 27th CIOE drew nearly 190,000 visits over three days, up 32% year on year. NPO (near-package optics) products from major domestic optical module makers made a concentrated appearance. NPO moves the optical engine from the switch front panel to near the ASIC package without soldering it to the switch chip, balancing power consumption and serviceability.
A paper in Light: Science & Applications proposes cascaded zero-dispersion recirculating loops, achieving both low phase noise and high mode purity in long-loop optoelectronic oscillators.
A team led by Peng Xie at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics studied soliton generation and breather dynamics in microcavity optical frequency combs.
Xinkong Guanglian hollow-core fiber achieves a loss of about 0.043 dB/km at 1550 nm, with fiber adapter insertion loss as low as 0.5 dB, marking its entry into commercial use.
Researchers at Jinan University have shown that topological light in the form of skyrmions retains its topological structure in atmospheric turbulence, benefiting free-space optical communications.
Teams led by Wang Binhao and Zhang Wenfu at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics have made a series of advances in silicon-based photonic interconnect chips.
Space-grade radiation-hardened erbium-doped fiber developed by teams led by Hou Chaoqi and Guo Haitao at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics has completed stable on-orbit verification for spaceborne laser communication.
Guo Haitao's team at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics has mastered key full-chain technologies for mid- and long-wave infrared anti-resonant hollow-core fiber.
The Russell Advanced Lightwave Science Center at the Hangzhou Institute of Optics and Mechanics, together with the Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study of UCAS, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics, and IRFIBER (Ningbo) Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., published a paper in Optica on delivering near-watt, hundred-femtosecond mid-infrared pulses in the 2.8 µm band through a 5 m-long hollow-core photonic crystal fiber with a single-core, eight-ring structure. After evacuation, overall efficiency exceeded 70%, the output was a near-diffraction-limited Gaussian spot, and the fundamental-mode energy fraction exceeded 95%.
Why we recommend it: The paper gives efficiency, pulse duration, peak power and fundamental-mode fraction, and compares the fiber with free-space optics and solid-core fluoride fiber, making it easier to judge the applicability of hollow-core fiber to mid-infrared ultrafast delivery.
Aio Optics has introduced the SpectrumShaper-R4 series spectral broadening module, extending the broadening range from 1-30 GHz to 1-80 GHz. An integrated single-frequency seed source is available as an option, and the built-in spectral profiles and software interaction have been optimized. Aimed at high-power narrow-linewidth fiber lasers, the module controls the seed spectrum through electro-optic phase modulation of an RF signal to suppress nonlinear effects during amplification.
Why we recommend it: Changes in the broadening range and integrated seed-source options correspond to specific design requirements for narrow-linewidth fiber lasers, useful for comparing trade-offs between spectral control and full-system integration.