---
title: "Fibre spot prices are four to six times last year's as AI data centres take the supply"
summary: "TrendForce's average spot prices for three optical fibres, 2025 against its 2026 estimate, and the supply behind them, as of 19 October"
url: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/optical-fibre-prices-ai-data-centres
format: Trend
desk: "Markets & the AI economy"
published: 2026-10-19
facts_checked: 2026-10-19
author: TechBag (The TechBag Journal)
tags: ["optical fibre","fibre prices","TrendForce","Corning","Verizon","HFCL","AI data centres","supply shortage","long-term supply agreements","campus network","branch network"]
cover: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/covers/optical-fibre-prices-ai-data-centres.png
---

# Fibre spot prices are four to six times last year's as AI data centres take the supply

*TrendForce's average spot prices for three optical fibres, 2025 against its 2026 estimate, and the supply behind them, as of 19 October*

Trend · Markets & the AI economy · By TechBag · Published 2026-10-19 · Facts checked 2026-10-19 · Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/optical-fibre-prices-ai-data-centres

The short version

- Bend-insensitive fibre, the kind cabled inside data centres, averaged 33 yuan a fibre-kilometre on the spot market in 2025; TrendForce estimates 200 yuan for 2026, about six times as much. Standard single-mode fibre goes from 18 to 85 yuan, and the fibre used for AI backbone links from 45 to 170.[1][2]
- TrendForce puts the cause on AI data centres: 18–20% of 2026 fibre demand, rising to 30–35% in 2027, against factories running at 92% with one month of stock. It expects the shortage to last until at least 2028.[1]
- Telecom operators are signing multi-year supply contracts; Verizon locked in about 129 million fibre-kilometres from Corning for 2027–2032. Some leading fibre makers are booked into the first quarter of 2027.[1][4]

The glass that carries the internet has become one of the inputs AI data centres compete for. On 19 October TrendForce, the Taiwanese market-research firm, published average spot prices for three kinds of optical fibre and estimated a global shortfall of 180 million fibre-kilometres for 2026, out of demand of 577 million.[1] Spot prices are what buyers pay outside long-term contracts. They are the first place a shortage shows, and the place a cabling contractor or a regional carrier buying in small lots meets it.

## The line: three fibres, one year

The steepest rise is in G.657.A2, the ITU’s bending-loss insensitive fibre, which TrendForce says is used for cabling inside data centres.[1][7] G.652.D, the ITU’s standard single-mode fibre and what TrendForce calls mainstream telecom fibre, rose next. G.654.E, the cut-off shifted fibre TrendForce calls AI backbone fibre, used between data centres and in high-capacity backbones, rose least, from the highest starting price.[1][2]

**Figure: Data-centre fibre went from 33 to an estimated 200 yuan a kilometre, the steepest of the three**

*Average spot price, yuan (CNY) per fibre-kilometre, 2025 against TrendForce's 2026 estimate*

|  | 2025 average | 2026 estimate | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| G.657.A2, in data centres | 33 | 200 | 506% |
| G.652.D, telecom standard | 18 | 85 | 372% |
| G.654.E, AI backbone | 45 | 170 | 278% |

Source: TrendForce, Average Spot Prices of Major Optical Fiber Products, 2025–2026 (chart in the 19 October 2026 release) · as of 19 October 2026 · 2026 is an estimate of the full-year average, published in October. Prices for finished fibre, not cable; multimode fibre is not covered

TechBag countWhy we say four to six times, not 2.8 to 5

TrendForce’s English release says spot prices reach “2.8–5 times their 2025 levels or higher”.[1] Its Chinese release says prices rise by 2.8 to more than 5 times year on year.[3] The chart settles it: 200 ÷ 33 is 6.1 times, a rise of 506%; 85 ÷ 18 is 4.7 times (+372%); 170 ÷ 45 is 3.8 times (+278%).[2] The 2.8 to 5 is the rise, so the 2026 price is about four to six times the 2025 one. We worked the ratios from the chart’s rounded labels.

## What drives it

**Demand.** TrendForce names AI data centres, links between data centres and high-capacity backbones. Data centres take 18–20% of 2026 demand and, it projects, 30–35% in 2027; chipmakers and telecom operators are building related networks too. It says supply has been tight since late 2025.[1] Corning’s numbers point the same way. Corning’s Optical Communications sales rose 32% to US$2.07bn in the quarter to June, with Enterprise Networks up 65% and, in Corning’s words, “Gen AI product sales growing significantly faster”. The same release recorded a multiyear supply agreement with Amazon for its US data centres.[5]

**Supply.** Fibre plants ran at 92% of capacity in 2026, and makers’ stock fell from four months in 2024 to one. New capacity starts with the preform, the glass rod fibre is drawn from, and adding preform capacity takes 18–24 months, so plans made now arrive late.[1] In May, Corning and NVIDIA announced that Corning would expand its US fibre production capacity by more than 50%.[6]

**Who says it is different this time.** TrendForce argues this shortage differs from past telecom cycles because it comes from sustained new demand from AI data centres, not a one-off build.[1] Corning’s Mike O’Day, announcing the Verizon deal, said “Gen AI and broadband expansion are part of the same transformative opportunity”.[4] Both are sellers’ or forecasters’ readings. We found no published forecast of an earlier end to the shortage, and none of a later one.

**Figure: Stock fell from four months to one, and the shortage is forecast to run until at least 2028**

*Fibre supply events and TrendForce's projections, 2024 to 2028*

| Date | Event | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2024 | Four months of stock | fibre makers' inventory, per TrendForce |
| 2025 | Late 2025: supply tightens | AI data-centre demand, per TrendForce |
| 2026 | 6 May: NVIDIA and Corning | Corning to add over 50% to US fibre capacity |
| 2026 | 8 Sept: Verizon and Corning | about 129M fibre-km, delivered 2027 to 2032 |
| 2026 | 19 Oct: one month of stock | 92% utilisation; 180M fibre-km short in 2026 |
| 2027 | Q1 2027 already booked | at some leading makers |
| 2027 | Data centres 30–35% of demand | TrendForce projection |
| 2028 | Shortage until at least 2028 | TrendForce projection |

Source: TrendForce (19 October 2026); Corning releases (6 May and 8 September 2026) · as of 19 October 2026 · Points placed within the year where the source gives only a year or a quarter

## What it means for a buyer

**Carriers are buying years ahead.** TrendForce says operators are moving from short-term purchases to long-term agreements.[1] Verizon’s, announced on 8 September, covers “80+ million miles” of fibre and connectivity from 2027 to 2032, for its broadband build and for long-haul links between AI data centres.[4] The leased lines, internet links and dark fibre that branches and campuses rent run over carrier networks like this one.

**Lead times, not only prices.** With some makers booked into the first quarter of 2027 and new preform capacity 18 to 24 months away, a project that needs new fibre runs in 2027 is competing for supply already promised.[1] A campus or branch project buys installed cable, not bare fibre. We found no published figure for how much of a cabling quote the fibre is, so we cannot say how much of a four- to six-fold fibre price reaches a project budget. TrendForce does not price multimode fibre, which many in-building links use.[2]

Our viewWhat we would ask before signing

Which fibre the quote assumes (G.652.D or G.657.A2), how long the price holds, and the delivery date for the cable, all in writing. If expansion is planned, price spare fibre into this year’s runs and compare it with buying later, when TrendForce expects supply to stay short. For leased circuits, ask the carrier whether build charges or install dates on new routes have changed; our [40-branch network example](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/sd-wan-sase-branch-network-india) shows where those lines sit in a branch budget.

The Indian side of the shortage

Indian fibre makers are selling into this market. HFCL’s managing director, Mahendra Nahata, told Business Today in July that AI “is throwing up so much massive amount of data that can only be carried by fibre optic cable”, and “that’s the reason the demand for fibre optic cable has increased”. He put HFCL’s order book at “₹26,000 crore in hand”, five times the previous year’s revenue; the magazine reported that exports are more than 70% of HFCL’s fibre cable output.[8] We found no Indian fibre price series from a primary source as of 19 October, and no statement from a carrier or the Department of Telecommunications on what the shortage means for Indian network build-outs, so we draw no conclusion about them.

**What to watch.** Corning’s third-quarter results are the next primary number: in July it guided core sales up about 16% to US$4.9–5bn.[5] After that, whether the makers TrendForce describes as booked into the first quarter of 2027 extend that horizon, and whether more operators follow Verizon into multi-year contracts.[1]

How we did this

Figures as of 19 October 2026

Prices are TrendForce’s averages for finished fibre, in yuan per fibre-kilometre, from the chart in its 19 October release: 2025 is a full-year average, 2026 an estimate. We did not convert them into rupees or dollars. Multiples are our division of the chart’s rounded labels. Fibre names follow the ITU-T recommendations; the uses are TrendForce’s descriptions. Corning and HFCL figures are the companies’ own, the HFCL ones as reported in an interview. Excluded: cable and installation prices, multimode fibre, and anything published after 19 October 2026. Forecasts are attributed to the firm that made them.

Spotted an error? Write to us; corrections are published at the foot of the piece.

Sources

1. [TrendForce, Optical Fiber Spot Prices Surge Severalfold in 2026, with Data Center-Driven Supply Shortages Expected to Persist Through 2028](https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20261019-13275.html) — 19 October 2026
2. [TrendForce, chart: Average Spot Prices of Major Optical Fiber Products, 2025–2026 (unit: CNY/fkm)](https://img.trendforce.com/EDM/2026/10/20261019_151705_3.jpg) — 19 October 2026 Published in source 1.
3. [TrendForce (Chinese release): 2026年光纤现货报价倍数攀升，数据中心需求短缺或延续至2028年](https://www.trendforce.cn/presscenter/news/20261019-13275.html) — 19 October 2026
4. [Corning, Verizon and Corning announce multi-year, multi-billion dollar supply agreement for broadband expansion and next-gen AI infrastructure](https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/about-us/news-events/news-releases/2026/09/verizon-and-corning-announce-multi-year-multi-billion-dollar-supply-agreement-for-broadband-expansion-and-next-gen-ai-infrastructure.html) — 8 September 2026
5. [Corning, second-quarter 2026 financial results](https://investor.corning.com/news-and-events/news/news-details/2026/Cornings-Strong-Second-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results1-Demonstrate-Progress-on-Recently-Upgraded-Springboard-Plan/default.aspx) — 28 July 2026
6. [Corning, NVIDIA and Corning announce long-term partnership to strengthen US manufacturing for AI infrastructure](https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/about-us/news-events/news-releases/2026/05/nvidia-and-corning-announce-long-term-partnership-to-strengthen-us-manufacturing-for-ai-infrastructure.html) — 6 May 2026
7. [ITU-T Recommendations G.652, G.654 and G.657: single-mode, cut-off shifted and bending-loss insensitive optical fibre and cable](https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.657/en) — approved August 2024
8. [Business Today: AI-led data centre boom is boosting fibre optic cable demand, says HFCL MD Mahendra Nahata](https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/ai-led-data-centre-boom-is-boosting-fibre-optic-cable-demand-says-hfcl-md-mahendra-nahata-544749-2026-07-23) — 23 July 2026

Related on TechBag: [what a 40-branch Indian network costs](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/sd-wan-sase-branch-network-india), the [network security and SASE guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/network-security-sase), and [how many firms see a return on AI](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/ai-return-few-firms-see-profit).

**Disclosure.** TechBag is a software reseller: it earns a margin when a reader buys through it, including from vendors named here. The analysis is TechBag’s own; no vendor paid for or saw this piece before publication. Facts are labelled reported, TechBag count or our view.

Go deeper on TechBag

- [MPLS costs 6× broadband plus SD-WAN](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/sd-wan-sase-branch-network-india) — a 40-branch Indian worked example: where leased lines sit in the budget
- [Network security and SASE](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/network-security-sase) — the decision guides for the branch and campus network layer
- [37% of firms see any profit from AI](https://www.thetechbag.com/blog/ai-return-few-firms-see-profit) — the other side of the AI build-out bill