en.Wedoany.com Reported - Against the backdrop of expanding investments in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, an international academic conference focusing on the future of optical communication technology has opened in Busan, South Korea. The Optical Society of Korea (OSK) announced that the 31st Optoelectronics and Communications Conference (OECC 2026) is being held from June 29 to July 2 at the Paradise Hotel Busan. More than 1,000 researchers and industry professionals in the fields of optical communications and optoelectronics from 28 countries are participating, with overseas attendees accounting for over 82%.

OECC is one of the major international academic conferences in the Asia-Pacific region for optical communications and optoelectronics. This year's conference is co-sponsored by organizations including Optica (formerly OSA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences (KICS), and the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) of Japan. The agenda includes 3 keynote speeches, the presentation of 483 regular papers and 86 invited papers, 5 workshops, 74 technical sessions, and 2 industry sessions. Twenty-three domestic and international companies are participating as exhibitors and sponsors, showcasing achievements in optical components, optical transmission equipment, measurement devices, and communication network technologies.

In the keynote sessions, changes in communication networks in the AI era and next-generation optoelectronic technologies were the main topics. South Korean telecom operator KT presented on AI-native 6G networks and related technologies. Yokohama National University in Japan focused on silicon photonics technology, while the University of Southampton in the UK introduced hollow-core fiber technology. Silicon photonics is seen as a key technology for miniaturizing optical communication components and reducing power consumption, while hollow-core fiber is gaining attention as a next-generation transmission medium due to its potential to overcome the latency and loss limitations of existing optical fibers. Research teams from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) of South Korea presented findings on next-generation passive optical network (PON) technologies and large language model (LLM) technologies for communication networks, aimed at advancing and intelligentizing optical communication networks. Discussion topics in major parallel sessions included eliminating bottlenecks in AI data centers, ultra-high-speed connections within and between data centers, next-generation optical components, optical transport networks, and the advancement of optical access networks.

With the advent of the AI era, the outlook for the optical communication market is highly promising. Market research firm TrendForce predicts that the AI optical transceiver market will grow from $16.5 billion in 2025 to $26 billion in 2026, an increase of over 57%. Optical transceivers are components that convert electrical signals to optical signals and vice versa, used to connect servers, switches, and GPU devices within data centers. The market for optical transmission equipment used for connections between data centers is also expected to expand. Dell'Oro Group predicts that driven by AI data center demand, the optical transmission equipment market will grow by 16% by 2026, with manufacturer sales exceeding $18 billion. Recently, as AI data centers evolve towards hyperscale, relying solely on intra-data center connections has proven insufficient. Industry experts point out the need for optical transport networks capable of interconnecting multiple data centers and long-distance, high-capacity transmission technologies. As AI services increasingly spread to industrial sites and end-users, the role of optical access networks becomes more critical, as the last-mile communication quality connecting data centers to enterprises, factories, urban infrastructure, and user terminals directly impacts service experience. On manufacturing floors, cameras and robots can analyze production line status in real-time and detect product defects; in large logistics centers, robots and automated equipment continuously exchange data on orders, inventory, and movement paths; in city centers, autonomous vehicles and transportation infrastructure need to share vehicle location, road conditions, and signal information in real-time. As such applications increase, communication networks will transcend being mere connectivity tools to become critical infrastructure affecting industrial productivity and service quality. In this context, some believe the growth rate of data generated and processed by machines and AI systems will surpass that of data directly produced by humans. This aligns with the industry adage "No Fiber, No AI": even with increased AI semiconductors, without fiber optic networks capable of rapidly transferring data, the performance of data centers and AI services will remain constrained.

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