Key takeaways
- China Mobile's 2026–27 tender for 69.22 million fiber-km of ordinary cable went 10.07% to YOFC, 9.90% to Hengtong and 9.42% each to ZTT and FiberHome. Futong came fifth with 5.66%.
- Who is largest depends on the measure. Xinhua reports YOFC first in the world by market share in preform, fiber and cable for ten years running; a 2025 market report that values the whole fiber optic cable market puts Corning first and YOFC sixth.
- About 25% of the world's optical fiber and cable comes from Wuhan's Optics Valley, home of YOFC and FiberHome.
- Ask who made the fiber inside the cable. Seven of the eight makers here make their own preform, by their own reports or the press; plants without preform buy their fiber in.
- Check duties before you compare prices: EU anti-dumping duties on Chinese single-mode cable run from 39.4% to 88.0% and lapse on 19 November 2026 unless a review is opened; India charges USD 122.41–537.30 per 1,000 fiber-km on Chinese G.652 and G.657 fiber.
- We do not represent these makers and none paid to be listed. For mixed BOMs and smaller orders, ZeroLine Connect names the audited factory behind each line and ships one consignment.
The makers at a glance
Facts as published by the companies, their filings, exchange data or the press, checked in October 2026. “China Mobile tender” means its 2026–27 ordinary optical cable tender. We do not represent these makers, and none of them paid to be listed.
| Maker | Base | Founded | Listed | Makes | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOFC (Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable) | Wuhan, Hubei | 1988 | Hong Kong 6869; Shanghai 601869 | Preform, fiber, cable | Revenue CN¥14.25 bn in 2025; largest China Mobile tender share (10.07%); plants in Poland, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and South Africa |
| Hengtong Optic-Electric | Suzhou (Wujiang), Jiangsu | 1991 | Shanghai 600487 | Preform, fiber, cable; power and submarine cable | Group revenue CN¥66.86 bn in 2025; 9.90% of the China Mobile tender; says it ranks top three worldwide in optical fiber communication, citing CRU |
| ZTT (Zhongtian Technology) | Nantong, Jiangsu | 1992 (group) | Shanghai 600522 | Preform, fiber, cable; power and submarine cable | Revenue CN¥52.50 bn in 2025, of which CN¥7.37 bn from optical communications and networks; 9.42% of the China Mobile tender |
| FiberHome | Wuhan, Hubei | 1999, from a 1974 research institute | Shanghai 600498 | Preform, fiber, cable; network equipment | Fiber and cable revenue CN¥4.65 bn of CN¥24.92 bn in 2025; 9.42% of the China Mobile tender; on the US Entity List since 2020 |
| Futong | Hangzhou (Fuyang), Zhejiang | Not confirmed | No; its listed arm was delisted in 2024 | Preform, fiber, cable | Fifth in the China Mobile tender (5.66%); several group subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy restructuring in 2025 |
| Jiangsu Etern | Suzhou (Wujiang), Jiangsu | 1994 | Shanghai 600105 | Preform, fiber, cable; optical chips and modules | Revenue CN¥5.29 bn in 2025; the first privately owned optical cable maker to list in China (1997) |
| Tongding | Suzhou (Wujiang), Jiangsu | 2001 | Shenzhen 002491 | Preform, fiber, cable; copper and rail signal cable | Made 4.34 million fiber-km of fiber in 2024, on revenue of CN¥2.92 bn |
| SDGI (Shenzhen SDG Information) | Shenzhen, Guangdong | 1999 | Shenzhen 000070 | Fiber and cable, OPGW, MPO connectors | Revenue CN¥4.42 bn in 2025; controlled by Shenzhen state-owned capital; a production base in Vietnam |
Etern, Tongding and SDGI were also among the 18 winners of the China Mobile tender; their shares were not published. Revenue for Hengtong, ZTT and FiberHome covers all their businesses, not only fiber cable.
Who are the largest fiber optic cable manufacturers in the world?
It depends on what you measure. Two published views disagree, and both are useful.
- By share of preform, fiber and cable, Xinhua reported in August 2026 that YOFC had ranked first in the world for ten years running. YOFC’s own filing says it has held a leading global share since 2016. Hengtong says it ranks in the top three, citing the analyst CRU.
- By value of the wider fiber optic cable market, a 2025 ResearchAndMarkets report ranks, on 2023 shares: Corning (4.26%), CommScope (2.16%), Prysmian (1.51%), Fujikura (1.28%), Furukawa Electric (1.14%), YOFC (1.00%), Hengtong (0.89%), ZTT (0.85%), Sumitomo Electric (0.58%) and Nexans (0.56%). The top ten held only 14.23% of a market it sized at $75.31 bn.
The non-Chinese majors, with one checked fact each:
| Maker | Home | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Corning | US | Optical Communications sales of $6.27 bn in 2025, up 35% |
| Prysmian | Italy | Group revenue €19.65 bn in 2025, energy and telecom cable together; sold its last YOFC shares in 2025 |
| CommScope | US | Its Connectivity and Cable Solutions business has belonged to Amphenol since January 2026 |
| Furukawa Electric | Japan | Merged OFS, its Japanese fiber cable division and Furukawa LatAm into one brand, Lightera, in 2025 |
| Fujikura | Japan | Agreed in July 2026 to sell its 60% of a Wuhan preform joint venture to FiberHome |
| Sumitomo Electric | Japan | Set up a preform plant in Hangzhou with Futong in 2010 |
The two rankings measure different things, so when a supplier calls itself “number one,” ask: by what measure, and in which year?
Preform, fiber, cable: who makes which layer?
Optical fiber is made in three steps. A preform, a rod of ultra-pure glass, is drawn into fiber 125 µm thick. Fiber is then colored, put in tubes and built into cable. The preform is the hard part: Chinese financial press reports that new preform capacity takes 1.5 to 2 years to approve and build.
Seven of the eight makers above make their own preform, by their own reports or the press; ZTT is reported to make all it needs. Cable plants that do not draw their own fiber buy it from those that do. Two cables of the same construction can therefore carry different fiber, and when fiber is short, as in 2026, a maker that buys fiber has to find it first. China Mobile’s 2026–27 tender implies about CN¥81 per fiber-km for bare fiber including VAT, 329.8% more than the previous round, according to CRU.
So ask three things of any cable offer:
- Who made the fiber, and is it named on the test report?
- The fiber spec sheet: G.652.D for feeder and duct cable, G.657.A1 or A2 for drops and tight bends. Our G.652.D vs G.657 guide explains the difference.
- Confirmed fiber supply for your lead time, and how long the price holds. See fiber optic cable prices in 2026.
What do China’s operator tenders tell you?
China Mobile’s 2026–27 ordinary cable tender covered 2.16 million cable-km, or 69.22 million fiber-km, with a ceiling of CN¥7.10 bn excluding VAT. Eighteen makers won shares. YOFC took 10.07%, Hengtong 9.90%, ZTT and FiberHome 9.42% each, and Futong 5.66%. Seventeen of the 18 bid exactly the ceiling price.
The shares are public and the volumes are large, so a share is a neutral signal that a maker can deliver at scale to a demanding buyer. It is not a certificate for the cable you will buy. The tender is for the operator’s own cable specification, so ask separately about your type, such as ADSS. The trend matters too: Futong’s share of the 2025–26 tender was about a tenth of its 2020–21 peak, and several of its subsidiaries filed for restructuring in 2025, yet it came back to 5.66% this round.
Which duties and trade rules apply?
Compare prices only after duty. The rules we could verify:
- European Union. Anti-dumping duties on single-mode optical fiber cable from China have applied since November 2021; multimode and submarine cable are excluded. In August 2023, after finding that exporters had absorbed the duties, the Commission doubled them: 39.4% for the ZTT group, 62.4% for other cooperating makers and 88.0% for the FiberHome group and all others. Countervailing duties have applied since January 2022. A Commission notice of February 2026 says the anti-dumping duties lapse on 19 November 2026 unless an expiry review is opened. We found no review notice by 12 October 2026; check TARIC before you order.
- India. Since August 2023, anti-dumping duty applies for five years to G.652 and G.657 fiber from China, Korea and Indonesia. Chinese producers pay USD 122.41 to 537.30 per 1,000 fiber-km. This covers bare fiber, not cable.
- United States. Since June 2020, FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies has been on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, as an alias of FiberHome Technologies Group. Check what that means for your project with your compliance team.
Cable made in a maker’s plant outside China may carry a different origin. Confirm the declared origin with your customs broker.
Which maker fits which buyer
A first shortlist drawn only from the facts above, not a ranking.
| If you need | Look first at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A national rollout or operator-scale volume | YOFC, Hengtong, ZTT, FiberHome | The four largest China Mobile tender shares |
| Cable made outside China | YOFC, Hengtong, SDGI | YOFC plants in six countries; Hengtong reports 12 industrial companies in nine countries; SDGI has a base in Vietnam |
| Chinese cable imported into the EU | ZTT | Lowest EU anti-dumping rate, 39.4%, while the measures last |
| Submarine or power cable from the same supplier | Hengtong, ZTT | Both make submarine and power cable |
| Fiber cable plus data-center parts | SDGI, Jiangsu Etern | MPO connectors (SDGI); optical chips and modules (Etern) |
| Published, audited accounts | All except Futong | Listed in Hong Kong, Shanghai or Shenzhen |
How to choose a fiber optic cable manufacturer in China
- Write the specification first. Cable type (duct, ADSS, direct-buried, drop), fiber count, fiber grade, sheath, span for aerial cable, and the standard you test to.
- Name the fiber. Ask which company made the preform and fiber, and get the fiber spec sheet with the offer.
- Check scale and accounts. Operator tender shares and listed accounts are public; use them.
- Price after duty. Check the anti-dumping rate for the named producer in your market, and the origin of the plant that will make your cable.
- Agree the tests. OTDR results for every drum, a pre-shipment inspection, and your drum marking scheme.
- Fix the price basis and validity. FOB or CIF, with or without VAT, and how many days the price holds.
- Verify the legal entity you pay, especially in a group with subsidiaries in restructuring. Our supplier verification guide shows how.
Where ZeroLine fits
ZeroLine Connect works from Wuhan’s Optics Valley, where about 25% of the world’s optical fiber and cable is made. We match each item in your bill of materials to an established factory we have audited, name that factory in our offer, inspect production before it ships and consolidate goods from several factories into one consignment, under one contract. That suits a mixed BOM: optical fiber, outdoor cable, ODN parts, patch cords and test tools in one shipment, or an order smaller than an operator framework.
For a national tender of thousands of kilometers of one cable, buying direct from YOFC, Hengtong, ZTT or FiberHome may suit you better, and we will say so. If you would rather make cable in your own country, we also deliver complete fiber cable and patch-cord plants.
Since 2009, the ZeroLine team and its partner factories have delivered more than 16,000 machines and 3,000 production-line projects to customers in 58 countries. The network now counts more than 1,200 partner factories in and around Wuhan’s Optics Valley.