In October, China's domestic optical module industry entered a critical period of "high-end volume expansion and technological positioning" in parallel. With the intensive release of Q3 financial results by leading enterprises and the launch of large-scale delivery of 1.6T products, the market showed distinct growth characteristics amid demand outbreaks and supply chain challenges.
Leading enterprises in the industry maintained a high-growth momentum in Q3 financial results. New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd. took the lead with a 207.12% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue and a 453.07% YoY surge in net profit attributable to shareholders. InnoLight Technology Corporation achieved Q3 revenue of 6.514 billion yuan, up 115.25% YoY, with net profit reaching 3.753 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a dramatic 189.59% YoY jump. However, industry growth has shown differentiation: although enterprises like Accelink Technologies Co., Ltd. recorded over 49% YoY growth, their quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth slowed down compared with Q2, confirming LightCounting's earlier prediction of "growth slowdown in the second half of the year". The core driver of performance growth came from high-end products of 800G and above. InnoLight explicitly stated that the significant increase in sales of 800G and 400G optical modules directly drove revenue growth.
In October, 1.6T optical modules officially entered the stage of large-scale shipment, becoming a new engine for industry growth. InnoLight's Thailand factory increased its monthly capacity to 500,000 units, with a capacity utilization rate of 95% in October, and orders have been scheduled until December. Its 1.6T silicon photonics modules have passed certifications from NVIDIA and Google, with expected shipments of 3 million units in 2025, accounting for over 50% of the market share. Huagong Tech expanded its 1.6T capacity to 250,000 units in October. Leveraging the low-power advantage of self-developed silicon photonics chips, it secured a 300,000-unit framework agreement with Microsoft, accounting for 30% of Microsoft's annual procurement volume. Accelink also achieved small-batch delivery of 1.6T products, and its OSFP224 module using 5nm DSP chip technology has completed customer sampling. Currently, the unit price of 1.6T products remains at 800-1,000 US dollars, which is higher than that of 800G products. Nevertheless, due to its adaptation to the computing power needs of AI servers, it still attracts 10,000-level orders from customers such as Amazon and Microsoft.
Leading enterprises accelerated the layout of 3.2T technology in October to seize the next-generation market in advance. At an industry exhibition, Huagong Tech unveiled a 3.2T CPO optical engine sample, which adopts fully self-developed silicon photonics chips and has 15% lower power consumption than overseas products. It has been sent to Microsoft and ByteDance for testing, with mass shipment expected in Q1 2026. InnoLight revealed that its 3.2T prototype has been sent to Google for testing, using a pluggable solution to adapt to the transformation of existing data centers. The reserved production line at the Thailand factory will start production in Q1 2025, with a planned monthly capacity of 100,000 units. Cambridge Technology entered the market through a differentiated route: relying on 3.2T LPO optical modules, it won an exclusive order from Microsoft, targeting the demand for inference scenarios with a 20% cost advantage.
The volume expansion of high-speed products has intensified the shortage of optical chip supply. In October, the industry witnessed dual signals of "price hike wave + investment wave". American manufacturer Marvell announced a price increase for all product lines starting from January 2025, and Lumentum, a leader in optical chips, saw its order volume reach a record high. Domestically, although enterprises like Yuanjie Technology and Accelink have made breakthroughs in 100G EML chips, mass supply has not yet been achieved, and high-end chips of 800G and above still rely on imports. In response, Guangdong Province issued an action plan for the innovative development of the optical chip industry, aiming to cultivate a 100-billion-level industrial cluster by 2030. Enterprises such as InnoLight have also increased investment in silicon photonics technology to reduce external dependence by improving the yield rate of self-developed chips.
Institutions generally believe that under the continuous expansion of AI computing power demand, the growth logic of the optical module industry remains unchanged. LightCounting has raised its forecast, stating that the shipment volume of 1.6T optical modules will reach 1 million units in 2025, and the early layout of 3.2T technology will determine the industry status of enterprises in the next three years.
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