Optical module production capacity continues to be released, and thin-film lithium niobate may become the mainstream modulation material for next-generation high-speed optical signals.

Mars Finance News April 26 – As AI chips continue to iterate and upgrade, data center optical modules have evolved from 400G and 800G to 1.6T.
Data from LightCounting released in January this year shows that by 2026, the global Ethernet optical module market is expected to reach $26.08B, with the combined penetration rate of 800G and 1.6T optical modules increasing by 53.67 percentage points compared to 2023.
Under this trend, 3.2T optical modules may see accelerated adoption. LightCounting predicts that by 2028, the market size for 3.2T optical modules could reach $1.396 billion, and by 2031, it could grow to $24 billion.
The single-channel modulation rate for 3.2T optical modules needs to reach 400G. Huatai Securities pointed out that thin-film lithium niobate is gaining an opportunity for adoption.
According to their estimates, in 2031, the market space for thin-film lithium niobate modulators driven solely by 3.2T optical modules could approach 3 billion yuan, with a CAGR of 271% from 2029 to 2031.
CICC also noted that in the field of optical modulators, compared to indium phosphide and silicon-based materials, thin-film lithium niobate has advantages in high bandwidth, low drive voltage, and high linearity.
Thin-film lithium niobate is expected to become an important material supporting future high-speed optical transmission modulation stages. (Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily)