OFC 2025: The Convergence of AI, Fiber Optics, and Future Networks

The Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference and Exhibition celebrated its 50th anniversary this year during the event held from April 1 to 3 in San Francisco, California. The hot topics heard during multiple sessions and in chatter with attendees included Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its convergence with future fiber optical networks. Even our experts got deep into the conversations while being a panelist during a session all about AI and while participating in a demo of our innovative solutions at the OIF multi-vendor interoperability demo.

To kick off OFC, a conference that’s all about the future, co-chairs Nick Fontaine, Fotini Karinou, and Elaine Wong opened the plenary session by looking to the past. They detailed how in 1970, scientists made a significant breakthrough by demonstrating that titanium-doped silica could be used to create low-loss, single-mode fibers, reducing fiber losses to 16.9 dB per kilometer. This, along with the development of room-temperature semiconductor lasers, laid the groundwork for practical fiber optic communications. Just five years later, the first Optical Fiber Transmission Conference (the precursor to OFC) was held, marking a major milestone in the field. Highlighting game-changing advancements in optical fiber technologies, OFC continues to provide a forum for collaboration and advancement of state-of-the-art solutions from global innovators.

AI, AI, AI, O! Artificial Intelligence and Optics Converge

As has been the growing trend in recent years, legacy telecom is starting to appear like more of a side attraction at OFC, while the hyperscalers are taking center stage by driving advancements in AI and the data center. All the attention on AI is likely due to the massive investments from hyperscalers, the enormous scale of these projects, and the vast potential seen in AI applications.

Early in the week Optica’s Executive Forum was held, where C-level panelists met to discuss the latest issues and technology advancements critical to current and future networks. The overall theme this year – and likely for several years to come – was the rapid transformation of global network infrastructure driven by the huge demands from AI. With the understanding that a single approach will likely not fit all, there was much discussion of cloud computing, storage and networks, and how AI and decentralization are reshaping network loads. Panelists explored the economic drivers behind network investments, how these translate into technical demands at the physical layer, and how hyperscalers are placing new standards and quality control requirements on their suppliers.

On Wednesday, Sean Buckley of Lightwave moderated a panel entitled “The Marriage of AI and Optical Networking” where six panelists, including David Calhoun, Technical Director of Advanced Engineering at Belden’s Precision Optical Technologies, discussed the key factors driving this union.

When asked how AI can be leveraged for various segments, such as traditional research and other applications like sensing and others, Calhoun commented “From my perspective, it really depends on which hat I’m wearing. I think there’s great potential for improving various capabilities – not just things like network design, but doing better from a design perspective.”

Calhoun went on to discuss a specific example of published cases involving Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) and AI. He referenced the use AI and giving it process parameters around what we can do to establish, for example, how to confine light from A to B, the result we would receive back is “not a human-understandable structure.” But from a fab perspective, you actually get some performance [improvement by using AI],” Calhoun said. “AI has great potential to bring new ways of doing things ahead, but that also comes with new problems. You have a double-edged sword when it comes to problem solving that I think is very interesting.”

Access a recording of this AI/Optics discussion here

While AI can significantly enhance the design of PICs by automating and optimizing various stages of the process, it also brings challenges related to data quality, model interpretability, and integration with existing tools must be addressed to fully unlock the potential of AI in PIC design.

Pushing Fiber Forward with Interoperability

Interoperability was a key theme at OFC with the Optical Interconnect Forum (OIF) showcasing new advancements in optical and electrical networking, highlighting technologies designed for AI, cloud, and disaggregated architectures. One of Belden’s broadband sub-brands, Precision Optical Technologies, participated in OIF’s multi-vendor interoperability demo at OFC for the third year. Belden’s Principal Solutions Engineer and interop expert, Pol Torres Compta, was on the demo team showing off our 100ZR, 400ZR, OpenZR+ and 800ZR modules.

The live demonstrations and collaborative discussions covered a range of innovations, including 800G technology, energy-efficient interfaces, and pluggable coherent optics. Digital coherent optics (DCOs) and related multi-vendor integration technologies continue to provide the groundwork for network infrastructure build-up to support current and future AI needs.

Honorees Recognized for Innovative Excellence

OFC 2025 also offered a forum for the 2025 Lightwave+BTR Innovation Reviews award ceremony – a program that recognizes excellence in optical network and broadband technologies. Precision Optical Technologies received an award for 4.5-star honoree status for its OpenPath™ PON Extender Technology. The technology, focused on fiber-to-the-home applications, allows truly passive and extended-reach PON links for distances up to 80km. Congratulations were extended to all the honorees, and the event highlighted the dynamic and rapidly-evolving nature of the optical and ethernet industries.

Also held during the week was the OFC and Co-Sponsors Awards Luncheon where conference co-sponsors Optica, IEEE Photonics Society, and IEEE Communications Society met to recognize and honor award recipients from each society. The program included a presentation of the 2025 John Tyndall Award given to Masatoshi Suzuki, Chitose Institute of Science and Technology, Japan. Suzuki was recognized for “pioneering and seminal contributions to large capacity long-haul optical communication systems including integrated light sources, dispersion-managed soliton, WDM submarine cable systems, and spatial multiplexing.”

We enjoyed seeing everyone at our booth and talking to you about your fiber applications from the headend to the premises. See you next year at OFC 2026 in Los Angeles, California!