Major Chinese optical fiber manufacturers have booked orders stretching into early 2027, as AI data center construction drives demand growth that the supply chain cannot match, according to a DigiTimes report. Hengtong and FiberHome told the publication their production lines are running at full capacity, with delivery cycles for some products extending from weeks to months.
The scale of demand from AI infrastructure dwarfs anything the fiber industry could ever have planned for. Data center fiber demand grew roughly 76% year-on-year in 2025, according to CRU data cited by various industry publications, and the segment is projected to account for 30% of total global fiber demand by 2027. In 2024, that figure was below 5%.
