On August 4, according to sources cited by Reuters, the Trump administration in the United States is drafting an order banning imports of Chinese components used in data center construction.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is examining a ban on importing optical transceivers used for internal fiber-optic data transmission within data centers from China. The report states that the U.S. move aims to "protect its artificial intelligence infrastructure from data theft and malicious software attacks."
In response to Reuters, the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated that the U.S. side should "listen to the rational voices from the business communities of both countries." The embassy added: "China will take all necessary measures to respond to any actions seriously harming Chinese interests."
The focus of this proposed U.S. restriction is on high-speed optical transceivers used inside AI data centers for fiber-optic data transmission—such as 800G and 1.6T advanced products. Over recent years, the United States has primarily restricted China’s access to high-end AI chips; now, the scope of restrictions is extending to inter-data center connectivity equipment, indicating that the U.S. seeks to exclude Chinese enterprises entirely from the global future AI infrastructure supply chain, accelerating the formation of a technology system centered on the U.S. and its allies.
The rationale provided by the U.S. remains the familiar claim of "national security," citing concerns that such equipment could be used for data theft or operational disruption. However, the core function of optical modules is optical-electrical signal conversion, and they do not store business data—making the U.S. security logic technically untenable.
A more practical issue is that Chinese manufacturers currently dominate the global high-speed optical module market (e.g., Chuangyi Xuchuang holds approximately 27% of the global market), while domestic U.S. suppliers (such as Coherent and Lumentum) have production scales far too small to fill this gap. If the ban were enforced, it would not achieve replacement but instead drive up costs for U.S. cloud service providers like Amazon and potentially slow down the pace of U.S. data center development.
Facing unwarranted pressure from the U.S., the Chinese Embassy in Washington clearly stated that it urges the U.S. to stop smearing and imposing sanctions threats, emphasizing that China will take all necessary measures in response.
Market analysis generally believes that while this event may cause short-term market sentiment shocks, in the medium to long term it is likely to be "loud thunder but little rain." Policies might alter shipping addresses, but they cannot change who holds competitive advantages in optical module manufacturing. Chinese optical module companies still possess significant strengths in technical capabilities, cost control, product yield rates, and delivery capacity—the underlying industrial trends and fundamental logic remain unchanged.
In summary, the U.S. action appears more driven by geopolitical anxiety and "preemptive containment" than by concrete strategic necessity. Yet, against the backdrop of highly globalized supply chains where China holds an absolute advantage, forcibly decoupling comes at an extremely high cost—and is unlikely to achieve the intended objectives in the end.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1872634374924489/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone.