In the first five months of this year, my country’s total exports of mechanical and electrical products reached 7.58 trillion yuan, accounting for 63.6% of the country’s total export value. It continues to be a core pillar of foreign trade growth. Among them, high-tech hardware related to computing power contributed more than half of the increase in exports of mechanical and electrical products. High-end optical modules are one of the most eye-catching categories.
Optical modules are called the “data transmission highway” of data centers. Large artificial intelligence model training and cloud computing server operation require the transmission of massive data in a short time. Optical modules can convert electrical signals with bottlenecks in transmission distance and speed into optical signals to achieve ultra-high-speed optical fiber transmission of data. They are an indispensable core component for the construction of AI computing power centers.
As countries around the world accelerate the deployment of AI computing power infrastructure, the market demand for high-end optical modules is experiencing explosive growth.
Previously, the technical barriers to high-standard high-end optical modules were relatively high, and the market has long been dominated by overseas manufacturers. In recent years, domestic optical module companies have seized on the outbreak of the AI industry, and relied on more than ten years of continuous R&D investment to conquer the core technologies of new generation high-speed optical modules such as 800G and 1.6T, quickly seizing the global market.
Data shows that my country has now captured more than 70% of the global market share of new generation high-speed optical modules, and 7 of the top ten optical module companies in the world are from China.
A domestic Wuhan company that specializes in high-end optical modules above 800G has seen overseas exports surge 100 times year-on-year this year. The production lines of many leading companies have been operating at full capacity 24 hours a day, and order schedules have been extended to two years later, which is enough to prove that overseas markets have high recognition of domestic high-end optical modules.
Domestic optical modules can stand out in the global market, relying on my country’s unique advantages in the entire optical communication industry chain: hundreds of components required for optical modules, from optical chips to housings and circuit boards, can all be purchased domestically. The supply chain stability and response efficiency are much higher than those of European and American manufacturers that require global dispatch. Not only can they be quickly customized and delivered according to the needs of overseas customers, they also have outstanding cost-effectiveness advantages.
At the same time, the continuous introduction of supporting policies at the national level has also provided assistance to industrial development. R&D subsidies and preferential tax policies for high-tech enterprises encourage enterprises to invest in core technology for a long time. The continuously optimized import and export customs clearance policies have also opened a fast channel for high-tech products to go overseas.
The explosion of exports of high-end optical modules is the epitome of the overall improvement of my country’s high-end manufacturing strength. It not only promotes the upgrade of my country’s export commodity structure from traditional low-value-added clothing and small commodities to high-tech parts and components, improves export profitability and resistance to global economic fluctuations, but also reversely promotes the localization process of domestic upstream optical chips and other key industries, improves the layout of the domestic computing power industry chain, and lays a solid hardware foundation for the development of my country’s artificial intelligence industry.
At the same time, the rapid expansion of the optical module industry has also created a large number of high-tech R&D and production jobs, attracting more science and engineering talents to join high-end manufacturing, further consolidating my country’s high-end technical talent pool, driving high-quality economic growth, and will also promote the further popularization of digital and intelligent life experiences.
At present, the industry is still facing the challenge of upstream high-end optical chip core technology being “stuck” overseas. In the future, domestic manufacturers will continue to increase R&D investment and make every effort to promote independent control of the entire industry chain. In the future, more high-tech products with the label of China’s independent innovation will enter the global market.
