In the past decade, many people can feel the huge upgrade of the network, with the "broadband China" strategy, in addition to getting faster and faster, because of the emergence of new technologies or products such as fiber to the home, invisible fiber optics, the network is becoming more and more beautiful. According to statistics, the mainland's optical fiber network basically reaches the existing administrative villages across the country, and the proportion of fixed broadband users with gigabit and above rates reaches 23%. A huge network interweaves people's work and life, and nowadays, it is constantly transmitting data, in fact, it also has a meaning like a nervous system.
As long as you walk into the "China FIBERTalk 2024" new optical network technology and application seminar in the AI+ era, you can feel the existence of an invisible brain, in this conference with different speakers in Chinese and English, the translation results are displayed on the screen in real time, and the voice translation brought by the robot is also transmitted in the simultaneous interpretation headset. All of this stems from the "AI+ era" in the theme of the conference, and the transmission of voice data and the cloud is inseparable from the "new optical network technology".
In the era of 4G and FTTX, the industry has undoubtedly seen the rapid growth of the optical fiber and cable industry. As AI is becoming ubiquitous, it has transformed into an optical transmission network that builds the "nervous system" of both the end and the cloud, and is ushering in a new moment of climbing the waves.
Riding the Wave: The Challenges Behind the Rigid Need for AI
If the data center where the cloud AI is located is called the brain, this brain is not only the left and right brains, more AI needs mean more AI servers, these servers are like the corpus callosum to the brain, they need to be connected to each other, and more optical fibers and optical modules are needed. In addition, in order to form greater computing power synergy, data centers will also form connections between them, bringing new requirements to optical fiber networks.
"The relationship between AI and fiber optic networks is mutually beneficial, pushing each other forward. The complex upgrade of AI applications and the intensification of data traffic have created a demand for fiber optic infrastructure. At the same time, high-quality fiber optic networks based on new fiber optic technologies enable AI to process and analyze data at higher speeds, thus providing new possibilities for innovation in more industries and fields. Zhuang Dan, executive director and president of YOFC, said at the meeting that under the promotion of AI, optical fiber network technology is ushering in new development opportunities.
If we want to make the new brain of human society, AI, knowledgeable and agile, it needs to put forward higher requirements for speed and latency. Previous analysis showed that when mobile phone users interact with cloud AI, the latency is about 100ms. Similarly, when ChatGPT opened up GPT-4o recently, many users uploaded data for analysis, and the rate was not stable. Behind all this is the new demand for the "nervous system" of AI, and the optical communication industry has ushered in the other side of the rigid demand for AI, which also means challenges.
At present, the industry generally believes that ultra-large-scale networking, ultra-high-speed interconnection, ultra-low latency, ultra-high reliability, and intelligent management and control operation and maintenance are the five major challenges that optical communication needs to address.
From the perspective of the requirements of the intelligent computing center network, with the rapid iteration of AI high-performance computing power cards, the development of 800G/1.6T high-speed optical interfaces and switches will accelerate. From the perspective of the demand for computing hub networks, optical communication continues to evolve in the direction of high speed, large capacity, all-optical networking, and intelligence, and it is necessary to strengthen the collaborative and efficient support of high-speed transmission, module devices, optical fiber and cable, intelligent management and control, and transportation capacity evaluation system. In terms of module devices, optical modules, optical crossovers, and optical amplifiers are the key components of high-speed and large-capacity optical transmission systems, which require breakthroughs in the material, hardware, and integrated process technology industries. In addition to the G.654.E optical fibers that have been deployed on a large scale, multi-core optical fibers and hollow-core fibers will become the main ways to improve the capacity and breakthrough performance of optical transmission systems in the future.
On the access side, which is closer to the user, it will also put forward higher requirements for bandwidth. In home or work scenarios, with the increase of gateways and the access of more devices, to ensure the smooth experience of AR/VR, metaverse and industrial Internet, it is not only necessary to increase the speed and reduce latency, but also to reduce electromagnetic interference, reduce low cost, and easy maintenance.
Obviously, when the demand for AI comes, optical fiber and cable companies cannot just "ride the waves", but also need their own efforts to climb the peak.
Panfeng: A rich product line for AI
YOFC also introduced to the industry the new optical fiber and optical module products innovatively developed to meet the needs of high-speed, efficient and intelligent communication networks under the wave of AI technology. Whether it is in the server-side, device-side, or consumer electronics field, the company already has a rich product line layout and has formulated future evolution plans.
As a new generation of backbone network optical fiber, G.654.E is currently meeting the fiber performance bottleneck behind the rapid surge in data traffic. YOFC's new G.654.E optical fiber has achieved independent intellectual property rights in terms of materials, processes and equipment, and has been successfully applied to a number of G.654.E trunk optical cable line projects of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, a number of UHV transmission projects of State Grid, and the construction of many overseas network infrastructure projects.
"Facing the future, the next generation of optical fiber needs to have the main characteristics of high performance, large capacity, low cost and low latency, and space division multiplexing fiber and hollow core fiber are the two main technical routes. YOFC has been deploying space division multiplexed optical fiber and hollow-core optical fiber for many years, and has made significant phased progress," said Raadjkoemar Matai, Chief Scientist of Optical Fiber at YOFC.
YOFC uses sophisticated manufacturing technology to enable data to be transmitted and flowed in capillary-like optical fibers. At present, YOFC has developed a variety of series of air-core optical fiber products suitable for different fields, and continues to iterate at high speed to help the technological innovation of computing power networks. Multi-core fibers can quickly increase the capacity of a single fiber due to multiple cores in a common cladding, which is suitable for high-density cabling scenarios such as data centers and submarine cables. In the future, in data center networks, 4-fiber and 8-fiber fibers will be configured in different fiber solutions.
On the data center side, in order to meet the continuous growth demand of AI data centers in terms of optical interconnection speed, YOFC is also focusing on leading the evolution and development of optical module and supporting chip technology. At the meeting, Chu Yuanliang, chief scientist of YOFC, introduced the current development of 1.6T optical modules, and said that YOFC is applying higher speed and more complex customer-side optical interconnection technology on the server side and user side of AI based on the application of AIGC large model, and launching advanced optical interconnection products such as corresponding optical modules.
In the field of consumer electronics, which is within reach of many people, as XR devices are ready to be launched, and generative AI brings new possibilities in imaging, YOFC's HDMI and USB AOC are also moving towards higher data transfer rates and more advanced modulation formats.
The rich product line for AI not only brings the hard power to climb to the top of a new round, but also the infinite possibilities opened up by AI and optical fiber, which is also worth looking at.
Lookout: AI and fiber optics open up endless possibilities
"The reason why we are doing these fibers is very important is AI. Ubiquitous AI will be used in healthcare, environmental control, and robotic entertainment, so the next generation of fiber needs to be ready. Before introducing the development of fiber optic technology, Raadjkoemar Matai described the beautiful scene of AI and fiber optics that he had seen.
In addition, the evolution of optical communication technology itself is helping to build a greener planet. As we all know, the computing of the AI "brain" is inseparable from the huge energy consumption. Optical fibers using glass as the medium can save 60% of energy consumption compared with copper cables; The miniaturization of optical modules promoted in technological development will also greatly reduce the use of plastics; The use of CPO as a whole package can also greatly reduce power consumption.
"In the AI+ era, the integration of AI and fiber networks opens up a lot of possibilities, and the synergies between AI and fiber networks are driving the next wave of technological advancements, from improving efficiency and reliability to enabling new services and applications." Xiong Zhuang, Chairman of FNCA Asia-Pacific Optical Fiber Optic Network Association and Chief Scientist of Optical Cable of Changfei Company, said in his speech at the conference.
In the next decade, AI will create waves for a new round of growth of optical fiber, and optical fiber will become the ubiquitous paving of AI. In the face of a new wave, Changfei's road to the peak is moving forward, and the scenery on the top of the mountain is already faintly visible.