2026/3/10
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
President and Representative Director: Norio Nakajima
Murata Manufacturing will exhibit at OFC 2026, the optical communications technology exhibition taking place in Los Angeles, United States, from March 17 to 19, 2026. Its booth will present proprietary electronic components and solutions that help improve next-generation network performance, providing the first public showcase of Murata's optical communications products and technologies.
The growing adoption of generative AI and continued expansion of cloud services are rapidly increasing data traffic. Data infrastructure, including AI data centers, consequently requires greater high speed processing capabilities and higher capacity transmission. At the same time, increasing global electricity demand makes efficient, low power operation essential.
Optical communications technology, which converts electrical signals into optical signals and transmits data over optical fibers at high speed and capacity with low power consumption, is becoming increasingly important. Murata is applying its core expertise in materials, design, processes and mass production, accumulated through electronic component development and manufacturing, to optical communications products. It aims to provide compact, high performance and cost-effective solutions.
In rapidly expanding AI data centers, optical transceivers and co-packaged optics (CPO), which convert between electrical and optical signals and transmit and receive data over optical fibers, are widely deployed as core system components. These devices include optical ICs, electronic ICs, their package substrates and fiber arrays that optimize optical input and output. This is an important field in which Murata can fully apply its technological capabilities.
At OFC 2026, Murata will focus on products under development that enhance optical transceiver and CPO performance. These include optical modulators supporting high speed transmission above 3.2 Tbps*2, developed using its high frequency design technology and its knowledge and mass production experience in LiNbO3*1 high frequency filters.
*1 LiNbO3: lithium niobate, a versatile single-crystal material widely used in optics, electronic engineering and acoustics, attracting attention for next-generation optical communications and high performance devices.
*2 Tbps (terabits per second): a unit of data transmission speed. 1 Tbps is approximately one trillion bits transmitted or received per second.
Future outlook
Beyond the products exhibited, Murata will introduce product series for sensing and optical quantum computing, drawing on its longstanding expertise and experience to support the realization of Society 5.0. It will continue communicating with stakeholders, strengthening manufacturing and development capabilities and contributing to the optical communications market.
Main exhibits
1. TFLN*3 EO Modulator
An optical modulator for optical transceivers and co-packaged optics, with an electro-optic (EO) bandwidth*4 exceeding 100 GHz. It supports 400 Gbps/channel PAM4*5, 1.6 Tbps communications and future high speed communications at 3.2 Tbps.
*3 TFLN (Thin Film Lithium Niobate): lithium niobate in thin-film form, a promising material for next-generation optical communications that modulates optical signals at high speed with low power consumption.
*4 EO bandwidth: the frequency range over which electrical signals can be modulated into optical signals.
*5 PAM4: a modulation method that transmits information using four distinct signal levels.
2. LTCC*6 Substrate
A substrate for optical transceivers and co-packaged optics above 1.6 Tbps. Its excellent high frequency characteristics and resistance to deformation in high temperatures maintain stable optical communications quality as temperatures change.
*6 LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics): ceramics that can be sintered at lower temperatures than conventional ceramics, offering excellent high frequency characteristics and reliability.
3. Optical Sub-assembly
A concept product integrating optical waveguides, microlenses and mirrors on an LTCC substrate. It provides flexible component layouts and reduces coupling loss caused by positional misalignment between optical fibers and photonic integrated circuits at optical input/output interfaces.
4. Organic Electrical & Optical Substrate
A concept product combining an optical waveguide layer with Murata's proprietary thin LCP substrate, whose circuitry can be designed in arbitrary shapes, enabling transmission of both optical and electrical signals.