China targets 1M 50G-PON ports by 2030

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology set a target of 1 million 50G-PON ports deployed by 2030 in its newly released five-year ICT plan, which took effect January 1. The plan follows 136 10Gbit/s pilots conducted last year that tested 50G-PON ultra-wideband, fiber-to-the-room Wi-Fi 7 integration and optical-AI integration, and China's optical suppliers say core 50G-PON ASIC chips, optical modules and devices are mature, with large-scale shipments of standard terminal products due to start next year. Accelink Technologies marketing director Lin Tao warned that AI is draining upstream production capacity and operator capex, saying "No one is willing to spend money on production capacity or R&D investment in PON-related technologies.

China's optical sector has a target: 1 million 50G-PON ports deployed by 2030. That's the goal set by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology MIIT in its just-released five-year ICT plan http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2026/0909/c1004-40794989.html , the sector-specific version of the national plan that took effect from January 1. In most parts of the world, telcos and vendors are dipping their toes in the still-tepid waters of 50G-PON. That's the industry name for ITU standard G.9804 https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/rec.aspx?rec=15160 , which stipulates an optical access network that can deliver 50Gbit/s downstream and at least 12.5Gbit/s upstream. The Chinese industry has the results of 136 10Gbit/s pilots that took place last year to work with. These tested out 50G-PON ultra-wideband, fiber-to-the-room FTTR -Wi-Fi 7 integration and optical-AI integration, as well as apps like cloud computing and gaming. At the recent China International Optoelectronic Expo CIOE in Shenzhen, experts agreed https://www.c114.com.cn/ftth/5472/a1318626.html the local industry was capable of meeting the needs of large-scale 50G-PON deployment. Cost and power consumption were the biggest pain points. Related: Calix, Astound complete 50G-PON trial https://www.lightreading.com/optical-networking/calix-astound-complete-50g-pon-trial All in on AI The good news is that, unlike other new technologies, next-generation optical has a ready market. Zhang Dechao, deputy head of basic network research at the China Mobile Research Institute, said token operations had "completely restructured the traffic model of optical networks." The old asymmetric model dominated by downlink had gone, uplink traffic accounted for 40%–50% of network traffic "and symmetrical bandwidth has become the mainstream," he said. He cited data showing that by 2035, AI inference traffic will account for 25% of total traffic, driving over 63% growth in overall network traffic. The problem is that while AI is creating the demand, it is also sucking away the resources required to feed it. Lin Tao, marketing director of components supplier Accelink Technologies https://www.accelink.com/en/ , warned that AI was draining upstream production capacity and operator capex. "No one is willing to spend money on production capacity or R&D investment in PON-related technologies," he said. "Basically, everyone is going all in on AI," he said. "This means that AI is both creating demand for optical access networks and squeezing out and competing for upstream production capacity and capital." How this will play out is anyone's guess. But according to China's optical suppliers, core 50G-PON ASIC chips, optical modules and devices are mature, with large-scale shipments of standard terminal products due to start next year.