According to 2022 data from the United States International Trade Commission, U.S. manufacturing capacity met only about 53% of the country’s demand for optical fiber, the core component of fiber optic cable. The U.S. currently relies heavily on imports to meet the increasing demand.
Tariffs on imported fiber optic cables and components are already increasing the cost of these products. While this could lead to increased production, in the near term, the country faces supply chain disruptions.
The significance of fiber optics can’t be overstated.
“Fiber optic cables are the veins and arteries of the Internet,” technology industry analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics told ClearanceJobs. “As our world becomes more interconnected, data consumption increases, especially with AI, and therefore the demand for fiber optic cables increases as well.”
Traditional copper lines simply can’t handle the volume of data.
“Fiber can carry information faster and with fewer delays,” explained Michael Pedrotti, co-founder of GhostCap Gaming, which produces servers for the gaming market.
It is thanks to these networks of fiber optics that allow readers to access this article, businesses to connect to the cloud, viewers to stream their favorite TV shows, and otherwise connect the world. Currently, fiber optic cable networks carry more than 95% of international data. It has become the nearly invisible infrastructure that powers global connectivity.
“The establishment of fiber in the countryside and the cities would provide an enormous growth to online services because a number of different industries depend on high-speed data transmission. There is a growing demand to use fiber as well as faster internet and cloud services,” Pedrotti told ClearanceJobs. “There is increasing level of fiber-optic manufacturing in the U.S. but there remains a supply gap. The production increment would imply additional investment in infrastructure and internal production.”
It’s Not All Fun And Games
Anyone playing games, streaming a movie, or going online at home relies on fiber optics. Even the mobile networks are supported by fiber optic cables, which connect the hubs. However, it isn’t just the fun and games that are most worrisome.
The United States government and military also rely on fiber optic cables, which are critical for communication and sensing applications due to their high-speed data transfer rates, immunity to electromagnetic interference, lightweight design, and ruggedness. The cables are used in aircraft avionics to manage high-speed, real-time data flow. Modern warships are equally dependent on fiber optic cables for many of the same reasons, where they are employed in mission-critical weapons, radar, sonar, and navigation systems.
In the ongoing war in Ukraine, both sides have begun to utilize tethered unmanned aerial systems, which are connected by fiber optics, ensuring that the platforms employed in surveillance and reconnaissance can’t be jammed by electronic warfare (EW) systems.
All of this highlights why fiber optic cables have become such an overlooked strategic resource, one that the U.S. currently can’t produce enough of to meet domestic demands.
“The demand for fiber optic cables will continue to rise dramatically,” said Torryon Coleman, vice president of network engineering at Summit Broadband.
He told ClearanceJobs that this increase is driven by three key factors: growing infrastructure, next-generation technologies, and entertainment and communication.
“Demand is increasing as service providers and governments expand broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved areas, with initiatives like the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program leading a deliberate, large-scale effort to close the digital divide,” Coleman explained.
The development of AI will further create high demand for bandwidth, as AI models process and generate massive amounts of data that can only be transmitted efficiently and at high speeds through fiber.
“AI will drive Data Center Expansions, which will require fiber optic backhaul and connectivity,” added Coleman.
Addressing the Demand
Fortunately, there has already been investment in new and expanded U.S. facilities to increase domestic production. AFL and Corning are leading the efforts, but more can still be done to improve the situation.
“To address the demand and increase production, the industry should focus on two key areas,” suggested Coleman. “First, companies can improve the efficiency of their operations by advancing deployment and repair techniques, which include standardizing processes and using AI to automate resource-intensive functions and optimize network routes.”
Those advancements could help reduce costs and speed up the rollout of new networks.
“Continuous innovation in the electronic components that leverage fiber is crucial,” Coleman continued. “This means advancing technologies like coherent optics to push more data across a single strand of fiber. By making each existing strand more efficient through next-generation technologies such as probabilistic constellation shaping and spatial division multiplexing, the network’s overall capacity is significantly enhanced without having to lay down new physical lines.”
