Hollow-Core Fiber Market (2026-2036)
The global Hollow-Core Fiber Market was valued at USD 0.18 billion in 2025. This market is expected to reach USD 5.89 billion by 2036 from an estimated USD 0.34 billion in 2026, registering a CAGR of 33.0% during the forecast period (2026-2036).
- Published
- Oct 2026
- Pages
- 345
- Format
- PDF + Excel
- Report ID
- MR-2273
- Base year
- 2025
- 2025 · BASELINE
- $180.0M
- 2036
- $5.89B
- CAGR 2026–2036
- 33.0%
2025 baseline · 2026–2036 forecast at 33.0% CAGR · hover a bar for the value
Key highlights
The global Hollow-Core Fiber Market is projected to reach USD 5.89 billion by 2036, driven by AI and cloud latency demands, record performance, and hyperscaler deployment.
North America is expected to account for the largest market share in 2026, while Asia-Pacific is projected to register the fastest growth during the forecast period.
A 40-year loss barrier has been broken. Researchers from Microsoft Azure Fiber and the University of Southampton reported in Nature Photonics in 2025 a hollow-core fiber with attenuation of 0.091 dB per kilometer, below the approximately 0.14 dB per kilometer practical limit of conventional silica fiber.
By application, Data Center Interconnect is expected to account for the largest market share, whereas Intra-Data Center & AI Cluster Interconnect is projected to witness the fastest growth through 2036.
Hyperscale deployment is scaling. Microsoft, which acquired hollow-core fiber developer Lumenisity in 2022 and has deployed the technology across multiple Azure regions since 2023, announced plans to add 15,000 kilometers of hollow-core fiber over 24 months and in September 2025 signed manufacturing collaborations with Corning and Heraeus.
Performance gains are substantial. Microsoft states that its hollow-core fiber delivers up to 47% faster data transmission and approximately 33% lower latency than conventional single-mode fiber.
Report summary
| Particulars | Details |
|---|---|
| Forecast Period | 2026-2036 |
| Base Year | 2025 |
| Estimated Year | 2026 |
| CAGR (Value) | 33.0% |
| Format | PDF, Excel & Cloud Portal · 345 pages |
| Market Size (Value) in 2026 | USD 0.34 Billion |
| Market Size (Value) in 2036 | USD 5.89 Billion |
| Segments Covered | By Fiber Design: Double Nested Antiresonant Nodeless Fiber, Other Antiresonant Fibers, Photonic Bandgap Fibers. By Product: Hollow-Core Fiber, Hollow-Core Cables, Connectivity & Interconnection, Test & Measurement. By Application: Data Center Interconnect, Intra-Data Center & AI Cluster Interconnect, Long-Haul & Metro Networks, Low-Latency Trading, Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul, Sensing & Specialty. By End User: Hyperscale Cloud Providers, Telecommunications Operators, Financial Services Firms, Data Center Operators, Research, Defense & Industrial Users. |
| Countries Covered | North America: U.S., Canada. Europe: U.K., Germany, France, Finland & Nordic Countries, Denmark, Italy, Rest of Europe. Asia-Pacific: China, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, Australia, Rest of Asia-Pacific. Latin America: Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Rest of Latin America. Middle East & Africa: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Africa, Rest of Middle East & Africa. |
| Key Companies | Microsoft (Lumenisity), Corning, Heraeus Covantis, Lightera, Furukawa Electric, Fujikura, Sumitomo Electric, YOFC, Prysmian, Nokia, NKT Photonics, GLOphotonics, VIAVI Solutions, and EXFO. |
Report overview
Segments covered: fiber design, product, application, end user.
The growth of this market is mainly driven by demand for lower latency and higher capacity in AI and cloud networks, record-breaking improvements in hollow-core fiber performance, and large-scale deployment commitments and manufacturing partnerships led by hyperscale cloud providers. However, the challenges of scaling manufacturing with high yield, the immaturity of the deployment ecosystem, the large installed base and economics of conventional single-mode fiber, and concentration of intellectual property and demand restrain the growth of this market.
Furthermore, interconnection of distributed AI data center campuses, low-latency financial trading networks, and mobile fronthaul, sensing, and specialty applications are expected to offer growth opportunities for the stakeholders in this market. However, interconnecting hollow-core fiber with existing networks, the absence of industry standards, ensuring long-term reliability in field conditions, and new requirements for testing and skills remain major challenges impacting the growth of this market. Additionally, industrial scale-up of production through manufacturing partnerships, the emergence of a multi-vendor ecosystem, rising development activity in Asia, and new testing and installation practices are prominent trends in this market.
The Hollow-Core Fiber Market comprises optical fibers that guide light through an air-filled or gas-filled core rather than solid glass, together with the cables, connectivity, interconnection, and test products required to deploy them. Because light travels much faster in air than in glass and interacts far less with the fiber material, hollow-core fiber offers lower latency, very low nonlinearity, low dispersion, and, in the latest designs, lower attenuation than conventional single-mode fiber. The market covers antiresonant designs, including nested antiresonant nodeless fiber and its double-nested variant, photonic bandgap fibers, hollow-core cables for data center, metro, and long-haul networks, connectors, splicing and transition solutions to conventional fiber, and specialized test and measurement equipment. Hollow-core fibers for high-power laser delivery, sensing, and scientific instruments are included as specialty applications. Conventional solid-core fibers and cables are excluded. The ecosystem spans fiber developers, glass and preform suppliers, fiber and cable manufacturers, connectivity and test equipment companies, cloud providers, telecommunications operators, financial trading firms, and research institutions.
Hollow-core fiber has moved from research to deployment in the past few years. Microsoft acquired Lumenisity, a 2017 spin-off from the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre, in 2022, established a hollow-core fiber fabrication facility in the U.K., and has deployed its double nested antiresonant nodeless fiber (DNANF) across multiple Azure regions since 2023. Microsoft states that the fiber delivers up to 47% faster data transmission and approximately 33% lower latency than conventional single-mode fiber, and its chief executive announced plans to add 15,000 kilometers of hollow-core fiber over 24 months. In 2025, Microsoft Azure Fiber and University of Southampton researchers reported in Nature Photonics an attenuation of 0.091 dB per kilometer, breaking the approximately 0.14 dB per kilometer limit that has constrained silica fiber since pure silica core fibers reached about 0.154 dB per kilometer in the 1980s.
Manufacturing is scaling through partnerships. On 23 September 2025, Microsoft announced collaborations with Corning, whose North Carolina facilities will produce Microsoft's hollow-core fiber, and Heraeus Covantis, which will produce from sites in Europe and the U.S., with Azure engineers working alongside them to operationalize Microsoft's manufacturing intellectual property and drive the yield, metrology, and reliability improvements required for scaled production. Other companies are building an ecosystem: Lightera has worked with Nokia and Digital Realty to use its hollow-core fiber and introduced tools with Furukawa Electric for hollow-core and multi-core fiber splicing, and fiber manufacturers in Asia are developing their own hollow-core products.
The market faces significant hurdles before broad adoption. Manufacturing yield, splice reliability, and connector standards must mature, the record 0.091 dB per kilometer result was a peak rather than an average production value, and industry standardization typically takes years, with carriers seeking multi-vendor ecosystems before committing backbone networks. Hollow-core fiber must also be interconnected with the vast installed base of conventional fiber, and installers and testers must adapt to its different physical characteristics. In the near term, adoption is expected to be led by hyperscale cloud providers that control their own routes and equipment.
Market dynamics
18 factors across 5 forcesDemand for Lower Latency and Higher Capacity in AI and Cloud Networks
Demand for lower latency and higher capacity in AI and cloud networks is a major factor driving the Hollow-Core Fiber Market. Cloud providers operate regions made up of multiple data centers that must be connected with very low latency, and the distance between facilities is limited by the speed of light in glass fiber; AI training and inference increasingly span multiple buildings and campuses, placing further demands on data center interconnect. Microsoft states that its hollow-core fiber delivers up to 47% faster data transmission and approximately 33% lower latency than conventional single-mode fiber, allowing data centers to be located farther apart within the same latency budget, which expands the land and power available for new capacity. With 2026 capital expenditure by the top five cloud providers and hyperscalers approaching USD 700 billion, according to NVIDIA's chief financial officer, and the International Energy Agency projecting data center electricity use to more than double to around 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, the ability to build more distributed, lower-latency networks is a significant strategic advantage.
Record-Breaking Improvements in Hollow-Core Fiber Performance
Record-breaking improvements in hollow-core fiber performance are significantly strengthening the case for adoption. For about 40 years, the attenuation of conventional silica fiber has been limited to around 0.14 dB per kilometer by Rayleigh scattering in glass, with pure silica core fibers reaching about 0.154 dB per kilometer in the 1980s. In 2025, researchers from Microsoft Azure Fiber and the University of Southampton reported in Nature Photonics a hollow-core fiber with attenuation of 0.091 dB per kilometer, the lowest ever recorded for an optical fiber. Because light travels through air, hollow-core fiber also has nonlinearity roughly three orders of magnitude lower than silica and much lower chromatic dispersion, which can extend the distance between amplifiers, reduce signal processing requirements, and lower energy consumption in optical networks.
Hyperscaler Deployment Commitments and Manufacturing Partnerships
Large-scale deployment commitments and manufacturing partnerships led by hyperscale cloud providers are creating a foundation for market growth. Microsoft has deployed hollow-core fiber across multiple Azure regions since 2023, has production routes in operation, and announced plans to add 15,000 kilometers of hollow-core fiber over 24 months to support cloud and AI connectivity. To supply this build-out, Microsoft announced in September 2025 manufacturing collaborations with Corning, which will produce the fiber at its North Carolina facilities, and Heraeus Covantis, which will produce from sites in Europe and the U.S., describing the agreements as foundational to a resilient, global hollow-core fiber supply chain. A committed anchor customer with large volume requirements reduces risk for manufacturers and is expected to accelerate the development of an ecosystem for fiber, cables, connectivity, and installation.
Table of contents
12 chapters · 143 sections · 345 pages · click to expandSegmental analysis
| Segment | Largest share (2026) | Fastest growth (2026–2036) |
|---|---|---|
| By Fiber Design | DNANF | Other Antiresonant Fibers |
| By Product | Hollow-Core Cables | Connectivity & Interconnection |
| By Application | Data Center Interconnect | Intra-Data Center & AI Cluster Interconnect |
| By End User | Hyperscale Cloud Providers | Telecommunications Operators |
By Fiber Design
- The DNANF segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market.
- The large share of this segment is mainly due to its record low attenuation of 0.091 dB per kilometer and its deployment across Microsoft's Azure network.
- However, the Other Antiresonant Fibers segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
- The rapid growth of this segment is attributed to new entrants developing alternative designs for telecommunications and data center applications.
By Product
- The Hollow-Core Cables segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market.
- The large share of this segment is mainly due to the value of cabled fiber deployed in data center interconnect and network routes.
- However, the Connectivity & Interconnection segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
- The rapid growth of this segment is attributed to the need for specialized splicing, connectors, and transition components as deployments scale.
By Application
- The Data Center Interconnect segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market.
- The large share of this segment is mainly due to hyperscaler deployments connecting data centers within cloud regions.
- However, the Intra-Data Center & AI Cluster Interconnect segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
- The rapid growth of this segment is attributed to the scale-up of AI clusters and demand for low-latency, low-power optical links.
By End User
- The Hyperscale Cloud Providers segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market.
- The large share of this segment is mainly due to Microsoft's large-scale deployment plans.
- However, the Telecommunications Operators segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
- The rapid growth of this segment is attributed to the maturation of standards, multi-vendor supply, and applications in metro networks and mobile fronthaul.
Geographic analysis
North America
Largest shareIn 2026, North America is expected to account for the largest share of the global Hollow-Core Fiber Market. The region's dominance is supported by the largest hyperscale cloud deployments and the scale-up of production. Microsoft has deployed hollow-core fiber across multiple Azure regions since 2023 and plans to add 15,000 kilometers over 24 months, and in September 2025 announced that Corning will produce Microsoft's hollow-core fiber at its North Carolina facilities and Heraeus Covantis will produce from sites including the U.S. Lightera has worked with Digital Realty on hollow-core fiber, and U.S. financial trading networks are candidates for low-latency routes. Hyperscaler capital expenditure approaching USD 700 billion in 2026 provides a large base of demand for data center interconnect. Canada's cloud and financial markets also represent potential adopters. North America
Europe
Europe is expected to account for a significant share of the market and is the birthplace of modern hollow-core fiber technology. The University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre in the U.K. developed the antiresonant designs commercialized by Lumenisity, which was spun out in 2017 and acquired by Microsoft in 2022, and Microsoft Azure Fiber and Southampton researchers reported the record 0.091 dB per kilometer attenuation in Nature Photonics in 2025. Germany's Heraeus Covantis will produce Microsoft's hollow-core fiber from European sites, Finland's Nokia has worked with Lightera on hollow-core fiber, and specialty photonics companies in France and Denmark develop hollow-core fibers for laser and sensing applications. London and Frankfurt financial markets are candidates for low-latency hollow-core routes. Europe
Asia-Pacific
Fastest growthHowever, Asia-Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The rapid growth of this region is attributed to its dominance of optical fiber manufacturing, rapid data center expansion, and active research and field trials. China is the world's largest producer of optical fiber and cable, and Chinese manufacturers and operators have developed hollow-core fibers and conducted trials for data center and backbone networks, while Japan's Furukawa Electric, which introduced hollow-core splicing tools with Lightera in 2025, Fujikura, and Sumitomo Electric are global leaders in fiber and connectivity. Rapid AI data center growth in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, India, and Australia is expected to create demand for low-latency interconnect. China accounts for more than half of global optical fiber production, and with hyperscaler and AI investment in the region rising, Asian producers are expected to scale hollow-core output as designs mature, drawing on the performance benchmark of 0.091 dB per kilometer set in 2025. Asia-Pacific
Latin America
Latin America is expected to account for a smaller share of the market. Cloud providers are expanding data center regions in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile, and Brazil launched a national AI plan in 2024 with planned investment of about BRL 23 billion, including supercomputing infrastructure. As hyperscalers extend hollow-core fiber from their core regions and costs decline, the region is expected to adopt the technology for data center interconnect in major metropolitan areas such as São Paulo, Mexico City, and Santiago. Latin America
Middle East & Africa
The Middle East & Africa is expected to register strong growth from a small base. Gulf countries are building large AI data center campuses, including the Stargate UAE project, which begins with a 1-gigawatt cluster as part of a planned 5-gigawatt campus announced in May 2025, and Saudi Arabia's Humain, which agreed to purchase 18,000 NVIDIA GB300 chips, creating demand for high-capacity, low-latency interconnect within and between campuses that can be designed around hollow-core fiber from the outset. Israel's photonics and networking industry and South Africa's growing data center market provide additional opportunities. Middle East & Africa
Competitive landscape
The global Hollow-Core Fiber Market is at an early stage and is highly concentrated, led by Microsoft, which owns leading DNANF technology through its acquisition of Lumenisity and produces fiber in-house and through partners, alongside major fiber and cable manufacturers, specialty photonics companies, connectivity and splicing equipment suppliers, test and measurement companies, and network equipment vendors. Competition centers on attenuation and latency performance, manufacturing yield and cost, reliability, compatibility with existing networks, intellectual property, and access to hyperscale customers.
Leading companies are scaling production through partnerships, developing alternative hollow-core designs, introducing splicing, connectivity, and test tools, and working toward standards. Microsoft's September 2025 collaborations with Corning and Heraeus mark the transition from specialized to industrial-scale production.
The report provides a comprehensive competitive assessment of the leading companies operating in the global Hollow-Core Fiber Market. The key players profiled in the report include Microsoft Corporation (Lumenisity) (U.S.), Corning Incorporated (U.S.), Heraeus Covantis (Germany), Lightera (U.S.), Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan), Fujikura Ltd. (Japan), Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (Japan), Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC) (China), Prysmian S.p.A. (Italy), Nokia Corporation (Finland), NKT Photonics (Denmark), GLOphotonics (France), VIAVI Solutions Inc. (U.S.), and EXFO Inc. (Canada).
- Microsoft · Lumenisity
- Corning
- Heraeus Covantis
- Lightera
- Furukawa Electric
- Fujikura
- Sumitomo Electric
- YOFC
- Prysmian
- Nokia
- NKT Photonics
- GLOphotonics
- VIAVI Solutions
- EXFO
Expert perspectives
Hollow-core fiber is the first fundamental change in optical fiber design in decades. Microsoft's reported attenuation of 0.091 dB per kilometer, below the roughly 0.14 dB per kilometer limit of glass, together with approximately 33% lower latency, plans for 15,000 kilometers of new deployment, and manufacturing partnerships with Corning and Heraeus, show that the technology has moved from the laboratory to industrial scale-up.
Three structural changes are expected to shape the market through 2036. First, production will scale from specialized facilities to major fiber manufacturers, lowering costs and enabling a multi-vendor supply base. Second, adoption will expand from hyperscaler data center interconnect to AI cluster interconnect, financial trading, metro networks, and mobile fronthaul as standards and ecosystems mature. Third, Asia's fiber manufacturers are expected to become significant suppliers, increasing competition and global availability.
For companies planning entry or expansion, the most attractive positions over the forecast period are likely to be found in hollow-core fiber and cable production, connectivity and splicing solutions, test and measurement for hollow-core networks, and deployment services for AI data center interconnect. The principal risks are manufacturing yield, ecosystem immaturity, the entrenched economics of conventional fiber, and dependence on a single dominant buyer and intellectual property holder.
Customer perspectives
Insights gathered during primary interviews with cloud network architects, telecommunications engineers, trading network managers, and fiber installers highlight where purchasing priorities are shifting. The following perspectives reflect recurring themes raised across these discussions.
“This reflects the strategic value of hollow-core fiber for distributed AI and cloud regions.”
“This indicates that standards and ecosystem maturity are gating factors for carriers.”
“This points to low-latency trading as a high-value early market.”
Frequently asked questions
The global Hollow-Core Fiber Market is estimated at USD 0.34 billion in 2026.
Cite this report
Meticulous Research. (2026). Hollow-Core Fiber Market - Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast (2026-2036) (Report No. MR-2273). Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd. https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/hollow-core-fiber-market-6956