Costs are driving optical chip shortages and price increases. Recent price increases in products like memory have pressured AI data center CAPEX, prompting questions about whether such hikes are truly beneficial. While scarcity-driven price rises in single components—be they storage, fiber, or discrete parts—may seem like direct buying signals, within the. Supply and demand: Exploding demand for AI computing power is driving data center expansion, and 800G/1. Supply bottleneck: High-end production capacity (such as 800G) is difficult to. In early 2026, global commodity markets experienced increased volatility: gold prices broke through $5,189 per ounce, and prices of non-ferrous metals such as copper and tin rose by more than 20% year-on-year. Prices of epoxy resin and fiberglass, key raw materials for PCB boards, also continued. Although optical modules are high-tech products, raw material costs account for as much as 60%-70% of the total cost, with metal materials being one of the major cost items. This trend is no longer limited to the communications industry but is spreading to more fields that rely on high-performance optical fiber transmission, such as FPV, drone remote control, and vision link.