2026 will be the first year of commercialization for 1. 6T optical modules, with a global demand expected to reach 8. According to ZDNet, the company said in its 1Q26 earnings release that its foundry has secured orders from a major optical communication module provider. Samsung Electronics said it is currently in talks with several major global customers on commercialization and plans to begin mass production. 800G Optical Module: Rising Demand, New Breakthrough in Technical Roadmap By 2026, the shipment volume of 800G optical modules is expected to exceed 40 million units, with demand showing a pattern dominated by North America and followed by China. Meta、 Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are the core. The Ethernet transceiver market was up 93% in 2024 and our latest estimates for 2025 suggest another 82% growth. We now forecast 65% growth for 2026, but maintain more conservative projections for 2027-2031, as illustrated in the figure below. The industry is rapidly transitioning to higher transmission speeds to support AI workloads.
[PDF Version]