Pushing the Pace

The rapid pace of expansion of fibre-optic cables is accelerating even further as more and more projects spring up calling for ultra-fast connections. To meet the demand for increasing quantities of cables capable of even faster speeds, manufacturers are investing in new or expanded production facilities and pushing the pace hard. The goal is to develop innovative fibre-optic cables for data highways.

If you think of fibre-optic data highways in terms of racetracks, these are where Formula 1 would be held. And practically the whole world is at the starting line. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market for fibre optics will grow from around US$ 9 billion in 2025 to just under US$ 18 billion by 2032. Countries such as Korea, Japan and Iceland are currently competing for pole position, each boasting levels of fibre-optic penetration of between 85 and 90 percent. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Spain, Sweden, New Zealand, and Chile are also setting a good pace, occupying spots in the top ten worldwide.

Fibre Optic Cable Boom 
The boom in fibre-optic cables is no accident. A wave of major projects, along with numerous small ones, is driving demand and keeping cable-manufacturing machinery and equipment running at high capacity. For example, at Nexans: At its Rognan plant in Norway, the company produces fibre-optic elements for the high-voltage subsea cable which will connect Malta to the European power grid via Sicily. Nearly half of the 104 kilometres of fibre-optic cable required for the project have already been manufactured, tested, and delivered to Nexans' high-voltage cable plant in Charleston, South Carolina, where full production and further testing of the subsea cables will continue. Once commissioned, the 245 kV subsea cable will double Malta's interconnection capacity and significantly bolster the island’s energy security, according to Nexans.

Energy-hungry data centres 
The growing number of increasingly powerful data centres are also hungry for more energy. The enormous computing needs associated with AI have created a potential bottleneck for construction of new data centres. Large quantities of fibre-optic cable are required – and the higher the performance, the more effectively they help relieve data congestion.

One example: an industry partnership is leveraging Relativity Networks' patent-pending hollow-core fibre (HCF) technology in conjunction with Prysmian's fibre-optic cables. According to Prysmian, this strategic agreement “will ensure the large-scale production needed to meet rising demand for advanced fibre and cable solutions for data centres in the U.S. and worldwide.” Background: Hollow-core fibres, whose cores can contain air or inert gas instead of conventional quartz glass, can transmit data almost 50 percent faster than conventional fibre-optic cables, the company says.

New production lines for fibre-optic cables 
The U.S. is a key market for Hexatronic’s fibre-optic business. The company plans to bring new production lines for fibre-optic cables online in the second quarter of 2026. “This is an important signal to our U.S. customers: We are ramping up production to further strengthen our position as a local manufacturer,” says Hexatronic.

TKH has already opened a new fibre-optic production facility in Poland. With this plant, the company is doubling its fibre-optic production capacity in Europe, partially replacing production previously located in China. The production floor spans 10,000 square metres dedicated to fibre-optic cable manufacturing.

CommScope announced an expansion of its fibre-optic cable production in the U.S. to accelerate broadband rollout in underserved areas. The company has invested US$ 47 million to expand production, with a particular focus on its HeliARC cable line. According to CommScope, HeliARC is a smaller, lighter cable designed to enable faster installation and reduce deployment costs.

AFL is also investing – more than US$ 35 million – to expand its U.S. fibre-optic cable manufacturing facilities. The aim is to support broadband expansion and the modernisation of the power grid.

Measurement systems for precise quality control 
However, the demands placed on fibre-optic cable production are extremely high: “The manufacture of fibre-optic cables comes with its own rules and challenges,” emphasises Kurre Systems. Producing long lengths containing many individual fibres is a particularly demanding task. To manufacture high-quality fibre-optic cable efficiently and with minimal stress on the fibres, Kurre Systems relies on the pre-production of fibre bundles using a state-of-the-art spiral spinning system. The company has achieved a major innovation milestone: its newly developed fibre-bundling unit reaches 3,000 revolutions per minute and “delivers consistently optimal results”.

Optical and electronic systems are essential for achieving precise quality in fibre-optic cables. For this purpose, Cersa MCI has developed the LPS (Laser Projection Sensor), which enables measurement of the diameter of the extruded product along three independent axes, and also functions as a defect detector. “With 20,000 measurements per axis per second, it is capable of detecting very small and very short geometric defects, even on high-speed extrusion lines,” explains Cersa MCI.

A promising future 
To ensure fibre-optic cables meet the highest quality standards, Sikora has developed fibre-optic measurement and control systems that deliver precision in both the fibre drawing tower and cable production lines. These systems, the company emphasises, “provide first-class results while also achieving significant material and cost savings.” Sikora’s portfolio for glass-fibre and fibre-optic cable production includes specialised equipment for diameter measurement, tensile force monitoring, airline detection, sheath concentricity measurement, temperature monitoring, attenuation and reflection measurement, as well as surface inspection systems.

In the booming fibre-optic market, uncompromising quality is essential. In addition to the machinery needed for the core drawing-tower process, fibre-optic manufacturers therefore require extruders, unwinders, winders, accumulators, take-off units, cooling troughs, and a variety of measurement systems. The demand for innovative equipment is correspondingly high. With these technologies, the cable industry sees a promising future ahead.

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