Core technical advantages (compared to traditional transmission schemes)

The high-speed optical modules outperform traditional electrical transmission schemes and low-rate optical modules in terms of data transmission rate, bandwidth density, and energy consumption efficiency. According to the 2025 Q3 report of the China Communications Standards Association, the single-channel transmission rate of 800Gbps coherent optical modules reaches 100Gbps, which is twice that of 400G optical modules (50Gbps per channel), and the transmission bandwidth density has increased to 8Tbps per slot, doubling that of 400G modules (4Tbps per slot). In terms of transmission energy consumption, the energy consumption per bit is as low as 0.05W/Gbps, which is 94% lower than traditional electrical transmission (0.8W/Gbps) and 58% lower than 400G optical modules (0.12W/Gbps). Moreover, the transmission distance of 800G optical modules can reach 120km (no need for repeaters), which is 50% longer than 400G long-distance modules (80km), effectively reducing the deployment cost of transmission links between computing centers and backbone network nodes.

Key materials and fabrication breakthroughs

A domestic optical communication enterprise announced a breakthrough in silicon photonic chip technology in Q2 2025: Using the "CMOS-compatible silicon-based integrated photonics" process, the laser, modulator, detector, and other core components are integrated onto a single silicon chip, with the chip area reduced to 5mm×3mm, which is 90% smaller than the traditional discrete component scheme (20mm×15mm). The related achievements were published in the "Optics Letters". This process has increased the modulation bandwidth of the chip to 110GHz, supporting high-speed transmission of 100Gbps per channel, and the yield has increased from 62% to 89%. At the same time, a certain US component enterprise developed a "low-loss fiber coupling packaging process", using precise optical alignment technology to reduce coupling loss from 0.8dB to 0.2dB, improving the receiver sensitivity of the optical module by 60%, and reducing the bit error rate in complex link environments to below 10⁻¹⁵, meeting the strict requirements of computing networks for transmission reliability.

Industry application scenarios implementation

In the field of computing power networks, 800G optical modules are the core support for the interconnection of AI computing centers. A certain leading internet enterprise deployed an ultra-computing center, which used 800G optical modules to build interconnection links. After the cross-center data transmission delay was reduced from 1.2ms to 0.5ms, the computing power scheduling efficiency was improved by 70%, and it could support the distributed training of trillion-parameter large models. In the 5.5G communication field, 800G optical modules are used for the front-haul and mid-haul links. The 5.5G pilot network launched by a certain operator in the second half of 2025, equipped with this module, increased the downlink peak rate of a single base station to 10Gbps, which is 10 times higher than the current 5G network (1Gbps), and can meet the bandwidth requirements of 4K/8K ultra-high-definition video, industrial-grade AR/VR, and other large-bandwidth applications. In the data center field, the large-scale application of 800G optical modules has increased the transmission bandwidth between cabinets by 4 times. After being applied by a certain large cloud service provider, the power density of a single cabinet in the data center was reduced by 25%, and the annual energy cost savings were 3 million yuan.

Existing technologies and market challenges

The core components and core technologies of high-end optical modules still have barriers: Currently, the domestic self-sufficiency rate of high-performance silicon photonic chips is only 30%, and the core distributed feedback laser (DFB) and high-speed photodetector rely on imports, resulting in a core component cost accounting for 55%. Technically, the heat dissipation problem of 1.6Tbps ultra-high-speed optical modules is prominent. When operating at full load, the module temperature can reach 85℃, requiring special solutions such as liquid cooling packaging to solve, increasing the design complexity and manufacturing cost. In the market, the global production capacity of 800G optical modules is concentrated in three overseas enterprises. In Q3 2025, the supply-demand gap in the computing center field in China was 22%, with a delivery cycle of up to 20 weeks, which increased the procurement cost for downstream internet enterprises. Furthermore, the compatibility and interoperability of optical modules are insufficient. The protocol compatibility rate of products from different manufacturers is only 85%, and it is necessary to optimize through unified industry standards, which limits the scale-up replacement and the improvement of operational efficiency.