Comparative analysis of the development of China’s optical fiber network and the world

1. The current status of China’s optical fiber network

1. Market size and industrial chain advantages
   China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of optical fiber and cable. In 2024, the scale of the optical communication market has reached about 50 billion yuan, and the world’s most complete optical communication industry system has been built, covering the entire chain of equipment, optical modules, optical fiber and cable. Huawei, ZTE, Fiberhome and other companies occupy nearly 50% of the global optical equipment market. Optical module technologies such as 200G/400G have been commercialized, and 800G products have been gradually launched.
   The domestic market demand is strong. In 2025, the scale of optical fiber and cable procurement of the three major operators (Mobile, Telecom, and Unicom) is expected to reach 230 million core kilometers, a significant year-on-year increase. Among them, G.654.E optical fiber is widely used in the construction of computing backbone networks due to its low loss characteristics, such as China Mobile’s backbone network project from Inner Mongolia to Beijing.
2. Policy-driven and technology upgrade
   National policies such as the “14th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization” and the “Action Plan for the Development of Basic Electronic Components Industry” promote the upgrade of optical fiber networks. The 10G optical network pilot was launched in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, and FTTR (fiber to the room) became the mainstream of home networking, driving the demand for new products such as invisible optical cables. In addition, greening and intelligence have become the direction of development. Enterprises use low-power technology to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainable development.
3. International layout and challenges
   Chinese optical fiber companies are accelerating overseas expansion, such as Changfei setting up factories in Mexico and Poland, and Hengtong Optics expanding production in Egypt and Indonesia. The export volume of optical cables increased by 20.7% year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2024, but faced trade barriers such as anti-dumping investigations in Europe and the United States, and needed to avoid risks through localized production.

2. Development of fiber optic networks in other parts of the world

1. European and American markets: high-end technology and policies in parallel

• Europe: The EU plans to achieve fiber coverage of 211 million households by 2028, Vodafone invests 10 billion euros in Germany to build FTTH networks, and Telefonica upgrades the UK network to full fiber.
• United States: AT&T plans to cover 30 million fiber users by 2025, focusing on the development of high-speed backbone networks, but high-end optical devices are still dominated by American and Japanese companies, such as silicon photonics technology is in a leading position.

1. Asia and emerging markets: demand growth and infrastructure acceleration

• Southeast Asia and the Middle East: Thailand and Indonesia fill the gap in optical communication manufacturing through localized production of Chinese companies. CRU predicts that the global demand for optical cables will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4% from 2023 to 2027, and Southeast Asia will become a growth hotspot.
• Japan: Promoting full coverage of optical fiber, active research and development of submarine optical cables, but market competition is concentrated on local companies such as Sumitomo Electric.

1. Technology Trends and Competition Landscape
   Global fiber optic networks are evolving towards ultra-high speed (such as 400G/800G optical modules), intelligence (AI-driven network operation and maintenance) and green (low-energy design). Europe and the United States maintain their advantages in high-end chips and materials, while China is more competitive in large-scale applications and cost control.

3. Comparison and Focus of Competition between China and Foreign Countries

1. Market Size and Industrial Chain
   China has a scale advantage with its huge domestic demand and complete industrial chain, while Europe and the United States rely on technological barriers and high-end products to dominate higher-profit market segments. For example, the size of China’s optical module market will be close to 90 billion yuan in 2024, but high-end devices will still rely on imports.
2. Technology Innovation Direction

• China: Focus on application-oriented innovation, such as FTTR and computing power networks;
• Europe, the United States and Japan: Leading basic technology breakthroughs, such as the research and development of silicon photonics and G.654.E optical fiber.

1. Policy and market driven
   China promotes network upgrades with “new infrastructure” and “dual gigabit” policies, while Europe and the United States accelerate fiber coverage through subsidies and private capital. For example, the EU allocates funds to support fiber construction through the “Digital Decade” plan, while China directly drives demand through operator centralized procurement.
2. International challenges
   Chinese companies face restrictions on overseas market access and need to break through barriers through technical cooperation and localized production; European and American companies strengthen their global layout through mergers and acquisitions (such as Nokia’s acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent).

4. Future trends and suggestions

1. Technology integration and ecological construction: The deep integration of 5G-A, AI and fiber optic networks will give rise to new scenarios, such as intelligent computing power scheduling networks.
2. Green and sustainable development: Low-energy fiber optic materials and circular economy models have become a global consensus.
3. International cooperation and competition balance: China needs to strengthen high-end technology research and development, and Europe and the United States need to accept the cost advantages of Chinese companies and jointly promote global fiber optic network standardization.

In summary, China’s optical fiber network leads the world driven by scale and policies, but it needs to break through the bottleneck of high-end technology; Europe and the United States rely on the innovation ecosystem to maintain their advantages, and emerging markets have become a new engine of growth. In the future, the competitive and cooperative relationship of the global optical fiber industry will become more complex, and technological innovation and market openness are the key.