On April 9, fiber optic concept stocks experienced short-term active trading. Sichuan Huiyuan Optical Communications Co.,Ltd. (000586.SZ) surged by the 10% daily limit for the fifth consecutive session, while Yangtze Optical Fibre And Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (601869.SH) opened lower but rallied to gain over 6%, once again reaching a record high. Other notable gainers included Changxin Bochuang (300548.SZ), Accelink Technologies (002281.SZ), Han's Laser (002008.SZ), Yongding Shares (600105.SH), and Far East Holdings (600869.SH).
According to Kaiyuan Securities, data from UK-based Commodities Research Unit (CRU) indicates that global demand for optical fibers and cables is projected to increase by 4.1% year-on-year in 2025, with demand for data center optical fibers and cables soaring by 75.9%. It is estimated that global fiber demand will climb to 880 million core kilometers by 2027.
In terms of pricing, the spot price of China’s G652.D bare optical fiber reached 83.40 yuan per core kilometer in March 2026, marking a cumulative increase of over 400% since May 2025. Similar products in the European market also saw a month-on-month price surge of 136% compared to January, and a year-on-year increase of 159%. The upward trend in fiber optic prices has now spread globally, with the supply-demand gap expected to widen to 15% during 2026-2027.
China Galaxy Securities pointed out that, from the supply side, the core driver of the current price hike is the production bottleneck in optical fiber preforms. Preforms account for approximately 70% of the industry chain's profits, feature high technical barriers, and require an extended expansion cycle of 18-24 months. Following previous price wars and supply reductions, capacity expansion has been limited, making it difficult for supply to keep up with growing demand.
Currently, global preform production capacity is nearing full utilization. Under capacity constraints, manufacturers are increasingly directing preform resources toward higher-value specialty fibers such as G.657.A2 (for drone applications) and G.654.E (for AI data centers), thereby squeezing production capacity for standard G.652.D fibers and exacerbating structural shortages.
Overseas markets also face similar challenges, with industry giants like Corning (GLW) and Fujikura experiencing lengthy expansion cycles, making it difficult to alleviate short-term supply gaps.
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