Furukawa Electric Company announced the completion of production capacity expansion in its optical fiber production facility in the Norcross, Georgia (OFS Optical fiber production). The company announced its expansion plan in 2017 in order to double the fiber manufacturing capacity.
The announcement came along with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility, attended by the Japanese Consular General, representatives from Gwinnett County and top officials from Furukawa Electric, OFS, and CommScope.
The decision to expand the optical fiber manufacturing facility at the Norcross, Georgia was one of several investment decisions the company announced in 201 with a vision to double the company’s global optical fiber manufacturing capabilities.
The new facility will serve to the future demands that will generate from the growth in next-generation communication applications. In the past, in 2014 and 2016, Furukawa increased its optical fiber production capacity by 20% and then planned to expand an additional 20% capacity increase by 2018.
The company in a press release stated that in order to meet the increasing global customer demand for optical fiber and fiber optic cable, its board approved $150 million in capital spending for further production expansion in 2017. Furukawa group is also expanding its optical fiber cable manufacturing facility (OFS cable factory). The work is progressing and is expected to complete within 2019. The company said that the expansions in its manufacturing facilities will create over 400 jobs.
There was a shortage of optical fibers in the market, which is now disappeared. The market prices are back to the level that existed before the shortage. Fiber optic cable industry started feeling the heat of shortage somewhere at the beginning of 2016. The supply shortage of optical fiber was mainly due to the sudden rise in demand in the United States and a steep rise in Chinese fiber deployments. Chinese cable makers alone consumed close to 300 million kilometers of optical fibers, which was half of the total length consumed by roughly 250 cable makers worldwide.
5G will be a real driver for the optical fiber deployments worldwide. The digital transformation of business communications along with the rapid progress in artificial intelligence and Internet of Things will lead to the construction of hyper-scale and edge data centers. This coupled with the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments in many countries are fueling the need for optical fiber
Furukawa has started its fiber optic accessories manufacturing facility in Tangier, Morocco, which is a strategic production location to cover Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Japan-based Furukawa group substantially expanded its business bases in Europe and the American continents by acquiring the OFS group. With a turnover of US$11 billion, Furukwas designs, manufacture, and supply of fiber optic products, network products, electronic components, power cables, nonferrous metals, and other advanced technology products. The company operates production facilities on five continents.
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