Northeast Securities: Demand for optical modules explodes, technology iteration accelerates equipment boom, upward value revaluation

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Northeast Securities released a research report stating that optical module sales continued to grow at a high rate of 90% in the first quarter of 2026. In terms of the competitive landscape, domestic manufacturers have occupied seven seats in the global TOP10. The total market share of the top five companies has reached 61.4%, and the Matthew effect in the industry continues to be prominent. Benefiting from the high downstream boom, the global market for high-speed optical module packaging and testing equipment continues to expand. As 800G/1.6T production capacity continues to expand, domestic equipment companies with high-end product development capabilities and core customer certification are expected to fully benefit from the double dividends of import substitution and industry expansion.

The main views of Northeast Securities are as follows:

Benefiting from the global computing infrastructure arms race, optical modules continue to prosper

The optical module integrates the five core components of an optical chip, an electric chip, a PCB substrate, a structural component shell, and an optical component to provide an optoelectronic interface for high-speed data transmission. Driven by the explosive growth in demand for AI big model training and inference, the global optical interconnection market is undergoing a historic growth cycle. The market size is expected to jump from US$24.8 billion in 2025 to US$111 billion in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 35%. Among them, the digital communication field, especially high-speed interconnection within and between AI data centers, is the core engine, which is expected to grow from US$19.4 billion in 2025 to US$98.6 billion in 2030. The speed iteration of optical modules has also reached the fastest rate in history. In 2025, 800G products have been fully deployed on a large scale, 1.6T completed technical verification and mass production, and 3.2T research and development accelerated significantly. Global optical module sales reached 26.8 billion US dollars in 2025, up 74% year on year, and continued to grow at a high rate of 90% in the first quarter of 2026. In terms of the competitive landscape, domestic manufacturers such as Zhongji Xuchuang and Xinyisheng have occupied seven seats in the global TOP10. The total market share of the top five companies has reached 61.4%, and the Matthew effect in the industry continues to be prominent.

The essence of optical module manufacturing is “micron-level precision assembly+full-process testing”. The core covers the five major aspects of patching, bonding, optical coupling, assembly and testing

Benefiting from the strong downstream boom, the global market size of high-speed optical module packaging and testing equipment surged from 1.11 billion yuan in 2021 to 8.93 billion yuan in 2025, with a CAGR of 68.42%. It is expected to exceed 41.36 billion yuan in 2030. Among them, coupling equipment is known as the “king of value” and requires optical path alignment with sub-micron or even nanoscale accuracy. Active coupling technology has become the mainstream solution for 800G/1.6T and silicon photon packaging, yet the high-end market is still dominated by overseas manufacturers. In terms of patch equipment, as the rate evolved from 400G to 1.6T, optical chip placement accuracy requirements were reduced from ±5 μm to ±2 μm, and the two technical routes of eutectic crystal and solid crystal developed in parallel. As a “quality gatekeeper” throughout the process, testing equipment covers key instruments such as aging tests, sampling oscilloscopes, clock recovery units, error analyzers, and precision source meters. The localization rate has increased to 36.5% in 2024, but in high-end fields such as 800G/1.6T high-speed testing and chip-level testing, overseas giants such as Keysight and Anritsu still dominate, and there is plenty of room for domestic replacement.

Related targets

Roboco became a global silicon optical/CPO coupling equipment giant through the acquisition of German FiContec; Cree Technology launched seven core product lines, with a high-precision placement accuracy of 50 nm; Bozhong Seiko fully automatic eutectic machines were shipped in batches in 400G/800G scenarios; Tianzhun Technology's VMU image measuring instruments are widely used by leading customers such as Zhongji Xuchuang; Quick's intelligent AOI inspection equipment enters the mainstream optical module supply chain; UFC launched an AI+X-ray non-destructive intelligent inspection system; Keger Precision automated design line production capacity reached 1 million units/year. In the field of testing instruments, Liancun Instruments is the world's second manufacturer of 1.6T full test instruments for energy production. 65GHz sampling oscilloscopes have reached the leading international level; Huasheng Chang entered the optical communication test circuit after acquiring Galante; and Puyuan Precision Electronics and Dingyang Technology continued to break through in basic instruments such as high-end oscilloscopes and source meters. As 800G/1.6T production capacity continues to expand, domestic equipment companies with high-end product development capabilities and core customer certification are expected to fully benefit from the double dividends of import substitution and industry expansion.

Risk warning: risk of AI capital expenditure falling short of expectations; risk of technology route switching; industry competition increasing risk; estimation and hypothetical risk