N.A. Chems & Pkg’g "Optical Fiber 101" Spector

Research evidence excerpt

N.A. Chems & Pkg’g "Optical Fiber 101" Spector

Global Research

4 June 2026ab

N.A. Chems & Pkg’g Equities

North AmericaOptical Fiber 101

Chemicals, Commodity

Joshua Spector, CFA

Overview Analyst

Optical fiber is a critical backbone for high-speed data transmission, leveraging joshua.spector@ubs.com

glass to transmit light signals as an alternative to electrical transmission through +1-212-713 6188

copper wires. Originally adopted for long haul communications, fiber has over James Cannon

time replaced copper due to lower signal loss, reduced energy consumption over Associate Analyst

distance, and superior reliability for high capacity data transmission. james-p.cannon@ubs.com

+1-212-713 4057

Fiber demand has historically grown at ~2%/yr, largely tracking carrier spend on

Jasmine Huang

wireless network and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments. More recently,

Analyst

demand has accelerated with 2025 delivering ~4% growth, and we think can S1460523060001

accelerate to >30% growth in the coming years (using Corning growth as a jasmine-za.huang@ubs.com

proxy). +86-21-3866 8947

The global market is highly consolidated with Corning (GLW) the largest player at Harunobu Goroh

~20% global market share. Corning also has one of the broadest portfolios for Analyst

fiber inside and outside the data center and benefits from vertical integration harunobu.goroh@ubs.com

+81-3-5208 6215

across preform, cabling, and connectivity solutions. Around ~1/2 of global

demand and production is in China, while other western players are mostly Christopher Leonard

European and Japanese firms (Fujikura, Furukawa, Sumitomo, Prysmian). Analyst

chris.leonard@ubs.com

Fiber market is pivoting from telco to datacenter applications +44-20-7568 3958