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Starting from Q3 2025, the global fiber optic cable market has broken free from years of depressed price levels, launching a robust and structural price upsurge that shows no signs of abating. Diverging from uniform price adjustments in prior cycles, this round of hikes presents stark discrepancies across product categories, procurement channels and regional markets, posing pivotal operational and procurement challenges for industrial clients, data center developers, telecom operators and global solution integrators. Backed by verified industry data and supply chain intelligence, this article dissects the core drivers, quantifiable price movements and long-term market trajectories of this pivotal industry shift.
According to CRU and domestic telecom procurement data, the flagship G.652.D single-mode fiber, the cornerstone of traditional telecom and FTTH deployments, has recorded a cumulative price surge of over 30% since early 2025. From late December 2025 to mid-January 2026, the price of loose G.652.D fiber skyrocketed from roughly 20 yuan per fiber-kilometer to over 35 yuan per fiber-kilometer, with some regional quotations exceeding 44 yuan per fiber-kilometer. High-end and specialty fiber segments have witnessed even steeper gains: G.657.A bend-insensitive fiber, widely deployed in data centers and military-grade drone communication systems, has surged from over 30 yuan per fiber-kilometer to more than 50 yuan per fiber-kilometer in a single month. G.654.E ultra-low loss long-haul fiber, OM5 high-bandwidth multi-mode fiber and hollow-core fiber command a 20% to 30% premium, with hollow-core fiber prices reaching nearly 1000 times that of standard G.652.D fiber. Meanwhile, carrier centralized procurement prices, long a stabilizing benchmark, have rebounded markedly—China Tower’s 2025-2026 GYTA G.652.D 24-core cable procurement set a baseline of 1197 yuan per sheath-kilometer, while regional China Telecom procurements logged ceilings up to 49% higher, confirming a broad-based market recovery.
The exponential expansion of AI computing infrastructure stands as the definitive catalyst reshaping global fiber optic supply-demand dynamics. Industry analytics confirm that AI-optimized hyperscale data centers consume 5 to 10 times more fiber optic infrastructure than conventional cloud facilities, with Data Center Interconnect (DCI) and intra-data center high-speed interconnect emerging as the fastest-growing demand segments. CRU data reveals that global data center fiber demand surged by 75.9% year-on-year in 2025, and this segment is projected to account for 30% of total global fiber demand by 2027, up from just 5% in 2024. North American hyperscalers, leading the large language model training and inference race, have placed bulk orders for high-performance fiber products, draining global inventories of specialty fibers and triggering cascading supply shortages across the entire value chain. Compounding this, military-grade fiber demand from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication systems has emerged as a significant incremental driver, with annual UAV fiber demand reaching 50-60 million fiber-kilometers in 2025, accounting for nearly 10% of total global demand.
On the supply side, inflexible production capacity and lengthy upstream expansion cycles have created persistent supply bottlenecks, amplifying market tightness. Optical fiber preform, the critical upstream raw material, entails highly complex manufacturing processes with a standard expansion cycle of 18 to 24 months, meaning new capacity initiated in 2025 will not reach commercialization until 2026 or 2027. Global leading manufacturers including Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable, Hengtong Optic-Electric and FiberHome have strategically reallocated limited preform and fiber production capacity to high-margin specialty fiber lines, directly reducing output of standard G.652.D fiber for traditional telecom and FTTx applications. This capacity diversion has exacerbated supply shortages in the mainstream market, even as overall industry production capacity remains theoretically stable. Additionally, robust overseas demand from North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia has driven a sharp rise in Chinese fiber optic cable exports, further straining domestic supply and pushing up ex-factory prices for bulk orders.
Industry consensus, supported by supply-demand modeling, indicates that this price uptrend will persist through 2026, with the full bull cycle spanning 2 to 3 years. Global fiber demand is projected to surpass 800 million fiber-kilometers by 2027, while effective supply will lag due to production efficiency losses from capacity conversion—specialty fiber production lines operate at 30% lower efficiency than standard fiber lines, widening the actual supply gap beyond projected 5% levels. For enterprise buyers, proactive risk mitigation strategies are imperative: securing long-term frame agreements with qualified preform-integrated manufacturers, diversifying supply sources across domestic and overseas vendors, and prioritizing inventory planning for high-priority G.652.D, G.657.A and OM5 fibers can buffer against cost volatility. Telecom operators planning centralized procurements and data center developers executing large-scale builds should integrate long-term price forecasting into project budgeting and supply chain risk management frameworks.
As the global fiber optic cable market enters a transformative, demand-driven growth phase, industrial stakeholders must transition from reactive cost control to proactive strategic planning. By monitoring preform capacity releases, tracking AI-driven demand fluctuations and leveraging data-driven supply chain optimization, businesses can navigate market volatility and secure competitive advantages in the evolving global optical communication ecosystem.
