Global AI Computing Power Demand “Soars” • “All-Optical Transport” Becomes the New Favorite

With the explosive growth of emerging applications such as large-scale AI model training, 4K/8K ultra-high-definition video, and intelligent driving, AI is penetrating all industries at an unprecedented speed and integrating into everyone's daily life. This not only accelerates the digital transformation of the economy and society but also drives explosive growth in connections between individuals, intelligent agents, and AI computing centers.

Several industry insiders stated in interviews with China Business Journal that all-optical transport, with its significant advantages of超大带宽 (ultra-large bandwidth), 低时延 (low latency), and 高可靠性 (high reliability), can effectively address the network transmission challenges brought by the explosive growth of AI computing power, providing solid support for the sustainable development of the digital economy. Its construction is not only crucial for the smooth operation of current AI applications but is also indispensable infrastructure for the future intelligent society, holding profound significance for promoting industrial upgrading and high-quality economic development.

All-optical transport is a new-generation computing power transmission and scheduling system built via end-to-end all-optical networks amidst the trend of exploding computing power demand and the integration of computing and network. Its core lies in deeply integrating optical technology into the entire chain of computing power "generation – transmission – utilization," solving the bottlenecks of traditional networks in bandwidth, latency, and reliability.

As the focus of large model performance upgrades shifts from "pre-training" to "post-training," the development of technologies like reinforcement learning and chain-of-thought will drive rapid growth in computing power demand. Simultaneously, the continuous emergence of AI applications, including chat applications like DeepSeek and Doubao, upgraded AI search from Baidu and Google, as well as various forms like smart glasses, smart cars, humanoid robots, and Agent intelligences, is also driving sustained growth in computing power demand.

Bolstered by open-source large models represented by DeepSeek, AI applications and innovation are accelerating their普及 (popularization). The intelligent connections between individuals, intelligent agents, and AI computing centers are experiencing explosive growth, demanding networks provide greater bandwidth, deterministic millisecond-level low latency, and better reliability. Gu Yunbo, President of Huawei's Optical Transmission Domain, believes that for the AI era, network architecture should be upgraded around "building computing well, connecting computing well, and utilizing computing well," creating an all-optical transport for AI characterized by "large bandwidth, low latency, high reliability, and strong intelligence."

At the "All-Optical Transport • Millisecond-Level Computing Access" forum during the 2025 China International Information and Communication Exhibition, Zhao Ce, Deputy Director-General of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that all-optical transport is a key link in the high-quality development of computing power infrastructure and has become a new engine supporting the high-quality development of the digital economy.