Optical Interconnect Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends and Forecast (2026 - 2031)

Optical Interconnect Market Analysis

The optical interconnect market is expected to grow from USD 19.39 billion in 2025 to USD 21.88 billion in 2026 and is forecast to reach USD 40.03 billion by 2031 at 12.86% CAGR over 2026-2031.Rising bandwidth requirements from artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads, the migration from copper to photonics, and rapidly expanding hyperscaler capital expenditure underpin this growth trajectory. Embedded optical modules gain momentum as co-packaged optics bridges the gap between switch ASICs and photonic I/O, while single-mode links dominate long-reach topologies as cloud operators scale geographically distributed data centers.Commercial 800G deployments and the early ramp of 1.6 T solutions keep the technology roadmap ahead of traffic growth, helping operators reduce fiber counts and improve power efficiency. Strategic acquisitions by Broadcom, Intel, and AMD tighten control over silicon photonics IP, signaling sustained investment in advanced packaging, indium phosphide wafer scaling, and integrated cooling technologies.

Global Optical Interconnect Market Trends and Insights

Increasing Demand for Communication Bandwidth

Generative AI clusters require 10–100 times more fiber than traditional cloud services, pushing existing copper interconnects past their physical limits and forcing an accelerated transition to photonics. Meta’s internal architectures already show copper reach constraints at the rack boundary, guiding investment toward optical topologies that support hundreds of terabits per second in scale-out domains. High-speed Ethernet port shipments are projected to climb from 70 million in 2023 to more than 240 million in 2026, mirroring the ramp of 1.6 T interfaces. Modern GPU clusters now specify 200 Tbps of east-west bandwidth, translating into installations that exceed 3,000 fibers per fabric link, a scale that directly benefits vendors of dense photonic integration. This persistent traffic curve underpins multi-year orders for optical interconnect components across servers, switches, and long-haul DCI footprints.

Rising Data-Center Interconnect Investments

Microsoft alone has secured more than USD 8 billion in new dark-fiber contracts to reinforce its distributed cloud backbone. Dell’Oro projects AI back-end networks surpassing USD 20 billion by 2028, implying that optical interconnect market demand will outpace general server spending through the decade. Hyperscalers are now funding their own submarine cables, raising subsea investment to USD 9.8 billion by 2029, a move that further widens the addressable base for coherent transport systems. With traffic growth at regional exchange points expected to multiply sixfold within five years, the optical interconnect market benefits from a stable pipeline of DCI and backbone upgrades. Vendors equipped to deliver 800 G and 1.6 T optics stand to capture outsized share as operators seek to maximize cost-per-bit on each installed fiber.

Slow Commercialization of Next-Generation Technologies

Co-packaged optics remains several years away from mass adoption despite visible R&D momentum, as reliability testing and standardization through the Optical Internetworking Forum take longer than anticipated. Thermal constraints at terabit speeds require new packaging materials and heat spreaders that pass strict qualification regimes, extending design cycles for system OEMs. Thin-film lithium-niobate photonics, though promising, still faces brittleness and yield challenges, delaying the high-volume availability of the material outside a few pilot fabs in China. These commercialization lags introduce planning risk for operators that must balance future-proofing with proven reliability, tempering near-term adoption rates for bleeding-edge solutions in the optical interconnect market.

Other drivers and restraints analyzed in the detailed report include:

1. Rapid 400 G/800 G Migration
2. Commercial Silicon-Photonics Adoption
3. High Capital Expenditure Requirements

For complete list of drivers and restraints, kindly check the Table Of Contents.

Segment Analysis

The optical interconnect market size for product-level sales centers on transceivers, which held a 36.40% revenue position in 2025, according to Broadcom. Embedded optical modules, however, are growing fastest at a 22.1% CAGR as ASIC designers validate co-packaged optics inside switch chassis. Traditional active optical cables remain popular for plug-and-play deployments, but their growth moderates as operators favor separate optics that scale to longer reaches. Cable assemblies and connectors track overall fiber growth, providing steady volume without the steep cost curves of integrated photonics. Broadcom’s 51.2 Tbps CPO platform shows 70% lower energy dissipation than pluggables, illustrating why embedded modules will keep gaining share. Intel’s optical I/O chiplet delivers 4 Tbps bidirectional throughput at 5 pJ/bit, a power milestone that positions embedded designs as the logical successor once packaging yields mature intel.com. Manufacturing alliances such as OpenLight and Jabil shorten time-to-market for integrated parts, signaling a broader pivot toward embedded optics inside the optical interconnect market.

The medium-term outlook suggests that embedded modules will cannibalize a portion of pluggables but also open new sockets where thermal budgets forbid traditional form factors. Many hyperscalers will dual-source embedded and pluggable parts until industry-wide interoperability matures, preserving transceiver revenue even as growth shifts. Meanwhile, CPO variants sit at the center of switch roadmaps for 1.6 T and 3.2 T fabrics, guaranteeing a sizable pipeline for backplane optics. Because embedded modules reduce front-panel density pressures, rack architects can shrink chassis depth or add accelerators, improving overall compute density. The interplay among these product categories keeps the optical interconnect market dynamic and underscores why broad portfolios are critical for vendors courting hyperscaler design wins.

Board-to-board and rack-level links accounted for 44.20% of optical interconnect market share in 2025, reflecting today’s modular server designs. Silicon photonics now enables on-package optical lanes that bypass PCB traces, driving chip-to-chip links to a 26.9% CAGR outlook. Metro and long-haul DCI solutions remain essential yet grow at a steadier clip because of longer deployment cycles and regulatory hurdles. The technology needs differ: chip-to-chip optics target sub-nanosecond latency and watt-per-terabit efficiencies, whereas DCI equipment optimizes spectral efficiency and amplifier cascades.

PCIe Gen 6 over optics, demonstrated by Marvell at OFC 2025, sends 64 GT/s traffic across 10 m fibers, enabling disaggregated compute racks that decouple CPUs and GPUs. Ayar Labs’ funding round underscores confidence in monolithic optical I/O that can break traditional memory and cache hierarchies. As co-packaged optics migrates from prototypes to volume switches, board designers will place laser sources near ASICs, lowering insertion loss and reducing pluggable face-plate thermal density. However, service providers still require rack-level links for backwards compatibility, bridging the transition from legacy spine-leaf topologies to next-generation fabrics. This hybrid demand profile supports incremental revenue across all interconnect levels in the optical interconnect market.

The Optical Interconnect Market Report is Segmented by Product (Optical Transceivers, Cable Assemblies, and More), Interconnect Level (Chip-To-Chip, Board-To-Board / Rack-Level, and More), Fiber Mode (Single-Mode Fiber and Multi-Mode Fiber), Data-Rate ( Less Than 40 Gbps, 40–100 Gbps, and More), Application (Telecommunication and Data Communication), and Geography.

Geography Analysis

North America led the optical interconnect market with a 33.60% share in 2025 thanks to hyperscaler concentration and decades-long silicon-photonics research programs by firms such as Intel. Capital spending on proprietary fiber assets remains robust, seen in Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar dark-fiber contracts with Lumen, underlining a strong near-term demand floor for high-speed optics. Regional merger activity, including AMD’s acquisition of Enosemi and Nokia’s USD 2.3 billion purchase of Infinera, adds both design talent and intellectual property to domestically headquartered firms. Continued Federal investment in advanced packaging and CHIPS Act photonics grants further strengthens North American manufacturing resilience, particularly for indium-phosphide wafers and heterogeneous integration.

Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region at a 13.05% CAGR, driven by China’s national photonics strategy, Taiwan’s foundry leverage, and regional investments in end-to-end supply chains. The Silicon Photonics Industry Alliance organized by TSMC includes over 30 companies and offers unified process design kits, lowering fabrication barriers and shortening learning curves for new entrants. China’s CHIPX pilot lines manufacture thin-film lithium-niobate on 6-inch wafers, giving domestic players a head start in next-generation modulators. Regional governments subsidize AI computing clusters that serve both commercial workloads and national research, ensuring sustained demand for terabit-scale optics over the forecast window. Collaboration between Taiwanese fabs and US cloud providers further blurs regional boundaries but ultimately inflates aggregate Asia-Pacific volumes in the optical interconnect market.

Europe’s optical production slipped below 8% of global share by 2024, prompting the European Commission to propose a Photonics Chips Act aimed at revitalizing domestic capacity. European photonics firms collectively spent more than EUR 12 billion on R&D in 2024, yet commercialization gaps persist relative to North America and Asia Pacific. Initiatives from Photonics21 and national programs in Germany and France pledge to double the number of pilot lines by 2027. On the corporate front, Prysmian’s USD 950 million acquisition of Channell Commercial Corporation expands the group’s fiber-connectivity footprint in North American and Middle-East data-center projects, reflecting a pragmatic globalization strategy. While the region remains technologically capable, its optical interconnect market growth depends on coordinated funding and faster technology-transfer pipelines to scale innovations into volume products.

List of Companies Covered in this Report:

1. 3M Company
2. Amphenol Corporation
3. Broadcom Inc.
4. Ciena Corporation
5. Cisco Systems Inc.
6. Coherent Corp. (formerly II-VI)
7. CommScope Holding Co.
8. Corning Incorporated
9. FIT Hon Teng (Molex) Ltd.
10. Go!Foton Inc.
11. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
12. Infinera Corporation
13. Intel Corporation
14. Lumentum Holdings Inc.
15. NVIDIA Corporation
16. Samtec Inc.
17. Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
18. TE Connectivity Ltd.
19. ZTE Corporation
20. Others (additional niche photonic start-ups)

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support