Goldman Sachs just published a report on the potential US restrictions on Chinese optical transceivers.
The key takeaway is actually very clear: rapid AI growth and faster technology migration are making CSPs MORE dependent on existing optical leaders, not less.
7 of the global top 10 optical module suppliers by revenue are based in China, and they gained market share again in 2025.
Why? Because 1.6T/2.4T/3.2T, SiPh/EML, pluggable/LPO/NPO/CPO all require deep R&D, customer co-development, automated manufacturing, yield control and massive capacity commitments. New suppliers simply cannot replicate this overnight.
And geopolitics is not new. Leading Chinese suppliers have already been diversifying production into Southeast Asia, with high-end 1.6T products already manufacturable there.
This is the part many investors still don’t understand:
Policy can change where the modules are manufactured. It is much harder to change who actually knows how to make them at scale.