Making fiber optic materials fit for an AI-driven future

Sophie Grothe, Global Marketing & Strategy Manager Fiber Optic Materials, Covestro
August 28th, 2026

As artificial intelligence reshapes the way we connect with each other, the demand on fiber optic materials is growing. Specifically, hyperscale AI data centers require fibers that can deliver ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, and resilient interconnectivity. Sophie Grothe, Global Marketing & Strategy Manager Fiber Optic Materials at Covestro, explains how the right materials can help meet these demands, and how expert partnership can help the industry go even further.

In this interview, we ask Sophie the following questions:
• What’s the role of fiber optics in rethinking how our world works?
• How can materials help unlock these possibilities?
• How can industry partners benefit from collaboration with Covestro?

Read on to learn how to meet the demands, and seize the opportunities, of the AI transition.

1. What’s the role of fiber optics in rethinking how our world works?

AI is rapidly changing how we think and operate, from infrastructure to healthcare and beyond. As we shift from purely human-led to human-AI hybrid workflows, we can make decisions and take action faster, and systems can stay more connected, allowing us to achieve what wasn’t possible before.

However, this transformation is placing heavy demand on our digital infrastructure. The interconnectivity and continuous background traffic of large-scale AI models require hyperscale AI data centers: computers built around large numbers of graphics and central processing units (GPUs and CPUs) working together.

Fiber is the nervous system of the AI era, the silent link between chips, power, software, and everything that moves. Cars, robots, hospitals, factories are all connected. As we enter the new thinking economy, fiber is the common denominator of the future. In particular, large-scale AI systems demand ultra-low latency (the time it takes data to travel from sender to receiver), high bandwidth (the amount of data that can be transferred per second), and resilient hyperscale interconnection. Materials are the key to making this happen.

2. How can materials help unlock these possibilities?

The industry is accelerating AI performance by upgrading to advanced technologies, including high-density fiber cables, multi-core fiber (MCF), and hollow-core fiber (HCF).

Any fiber’s performance is only as good as the materials it’s made of. And the glass used in fiber optics is only as good as the coatings that protected it.

But the coatings requirements for MCF and HCF, in particular, stretch the limits of chemistry and physics. The primary coating needs to be very soft to prevent microbending and the resulting signal distortion. At the same time, the protective secondary coating needs to be much tougher and harder than the secondaries used for standard single mode fibers. Equally important is the consistency: fiber manufacturers need to rely on the same batch-to-batch coating quality wherever in the world they produce their optical fiber. Materials that can meet these needs allow manufacturers to unlock the full potential of standard single-core silica fiber, multi-core fiber (MCF), and hollow core fiber (HCF).

What’s more, these materials need to meet industry needs with solutions for multiple stages of the fiber optics and cables value chain. Our portfolio includes:
• DeSolite®, Cablelite®, and Bufferlite® UV-curable optical fiber and cable materials for primary and secondary coatings, inks for color coding, and matrix materials for bundling fibers 
• Bayblend® and Makrolon® polycarbonate materials for network devices
• Desmopan® thermoplastic polyurethanes for flame-retardant cable jackets
• Baytec® and Desmodur® polyurethane elastomers for offshore cable protection
• Baybond® sizing for glass, carbon, and basalt fibers

With this broad range of material solutions, we strive to provide a whole toolbox of options that all play their part in driving fiber – and therefore AI – forward.

3. How can industry partners benefit from collaboration with Covestro?

To drive a digital future, fiber manufacturers will need both durable materials and insights from historical experience. At Covestro, we can offer both. We pioneered UV-curable optical fiber coatings more than 45 years ago (de facto from the very beginning of the technology), and have been supplying polymer materials to the broader cable industry for more than 70 years. We have long-standing relationships with optical fiber manufacturers around the world.

Whatever the application, our customers can count on three things: coatings that perform, supply security, and consistent quality. Optical fiber installed in the early 1990s remains fully operational after more than 35 years, and is expected to keep delivering broadband for decades to come, 

Partners can collaborate with us in several ways, from co-developing coatings adapted to their glass geometry, to supporting higher drawing speeds with greater robustness and performance. Our Technical Service Labs, mirroring our production footprint across all regions, ensure fast, local support wherever our customers operate. At our US R&D department, we hold a unique advantage: a Draw Tower Simulator, an Inking Line and a Ribboning Line, and capabilities to fully characterize the material properties on the fiber. This equipment allows us to mirror customers' real process conditions and to run dedicated testing for attenuation, microbending, and aging, adapting our solutions directly to their real-world applications. 

Ultimately, connectivity for the world is only made possible by connectivity between the right partners. Together, we are powering AI to transform the way the world works.