The annual optical device industry event CIOE Optical Expo opened in Shenzhen on September 6.

         Our car just drove into the exhibition parking lot, and the bustling traffic made us feel the excitement of this year's Optical Expo in advance. Maybe because of the time, when we went there, it was not long after the opening, and the registration office was still very busy and crowded, but after entering the venue, we had a real understanding of this year's excitement. In one morning, according to the author's personal experience, the number of visitors increased by at least 20% compared with last year, and the venue seemed very crowded. Many exhibitors also told the editor that there would be more visitors in the future than in previous years; new companies have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and there are new companies everywhere, and many companies have never been heard of before; there are many special exhibitions, not only old and large companies, but also many new companies have adopted special exhibitions as soon as they debuted, which makes us have to marvel at the huge changes.

        Two major exhibits of this year's Optical Expo are the most eye-catching. One is the 10G optical module. 10G optical modules are no longer just for display. At the Gigalight booth, we also saw a test demonstration of using their own 10G optical modules to connect to HDTV transmission; WTD, Extreme Xingtong, and Xuchuang Optoelectronics pay more attention to emphasizing the provision of a full range of 10G optical module products. This year, Eosun's booth is mainly blue and white, which makes it look simpler and brighter. It also promotes a full range of 10G optical module products. Hisense also exhibited 10G PON module products. It is understood that compared with low-end module manufacturers, 10G optical module manufacturers have generally achieved better results this year, which is mainly due to the accelerated transformation and construction of China's metropolitan area network. However, the sales of 40G are not good, and the reason is more due to the high cost. At present, 1.25G and 2.5G are still the main access networks, but 10G PON access will be the mainstream in the next few years.

        The second is the FTTH series of products. With the acceleration of FTTH construction, a large number of manufacturers have gathered in this field, and some industry insiders have bluntly stated that a bubble has been created. Optical fiber and cable manufacturers and equipment manufacturers are competing in the ODN industry, and are competing strongly for the market share of traditional FTTx supporting product manufacturers. Among FTTH products, PLC splitters are the most eye-catching.

        As the core device of FTTH, it is undeniable that PLC splitters have been very popular in recent years, but most of them are concentrated at the packaging level, and a few are making V-grooves and FA (fiber arrays). However, at this year's Optical Expo, a large number of PLC chip manufacturers suddenly emerged, which really scared the author. In addition to the old domestic manufacturers Sichuan Feiyang Technology and Henan Shijia Photonics (technology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences) which has not yet produced finished products, there are also new companies from Hangzhou Tianye and Beijing Bo Lian Huicheng (they are both participating in the exhibition for the first time and are special exhibitions), all of which focus on displaying PLC chips. A person in charge of Tianye mentioned that they are the first domestic company to go from wafer to lithography to FA to PLC splitter packaging; Beijing Bo Lian Huicheng has expanded from the original MEMS devices to the current PLC chip production. There is also a new company from Japan that also came to the Optical Expo to promote their PLC products. Of course, the editor is very skeptical whether these companies can make PLC chips completely independently.

        Seeing the involvement of a large number of new companies, we can understand how hot this industry is. Whether this enthusiasm is rational remains to be further observed. Tonight, several people from the securities investment industry attended our CFOL netizen gathering. They have re-strengthened their attention to the optical communication industry. There are also two people from the human resources department of the company participating, hoping to develop excellent talents through more channels, which shows how strong the demand for talents in the industry is. There are also new companies that we met at the exhibition, which makes us feel that this industry has developed to its peak again. Many people are also worried about whether another bubble will come? Speaking of the increase in new companies, one of our CFOL forum moderators, Member, believes that the involvement of new companies shows that the technical threshold of this industry is becoming lower and lower. He does not think the future will be so bright. In particular, the global economic situation at that time may affect the optimism of the optical device industry. Another industry insider mentioned that a company offered an annual salary of hundreds of thousands of yuan to recruit R&D engineers, which reminded him of the optical communication bubble of that year, which was also the case. Can our optical communication industry continue to prosper rationally like today?