Key facts
- Huawei introduced a new standard for optical communication technology.
- The company aims to shape global technological standards for chip technology.
- Huawei launched ten new AI-Optical Network products at its AI-ON Summit.
- Chinese carriers launched commercial AI token subscription plans in May 2026.
- Daily AI token consumption across China grew to over 140 trillion by March 2026.
- Huawei's new products target bottlenecks in AI inference delivery.
Huawei introduced its own standard for optical communication technology on Thursday, aiming to challenge established players like Nvidia and Broadcom and gain a greater influence in the development of chipmaking standards for artificial intelligence computing. The Chinese tech giant's move is part of a broader effort to shape global technological standards in the semiconductor industry.
At the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2026, Huawei unveiled ten new AI-Optical Network products, positioning them as crucial infrastructure for a new carrier revenue model that bills for AI inference tokens instead of data gigabytes. This initiative aligns with commitments from Chinese carriers China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, which launched commercial AI token subscription plans in May 2026. These carriers are redirecting billions of yuan into compute infrastructure while reducing legacy network capital expenditure.
According to China's National Data Administration, daily AI token consumption in China has surged from approximately 100 billion in early 2024 to over 140 trillion by March 2026. Huawei's product launches span four engineering categories designed to address bottlenecks in AI inference delivery. These include high-density 50G PON service boards for fiber access, supporting speeds of 50 gigabits per second downstream, and upgraded systems for tri-band Wi-Fi 7. Chinese carriers have notably skipped the 25G PON generation, moving directly from 10G to 50G, giving Huawei's domestic market a deployment advantage.
For computing network access, Huawei introduced solutions targeting one-millisecond round-trip performance, such as a Mini OXC for wavelength-level switching and an end-to-end OSU with fine-grained OTN implementation. This fine-grained OTN allows bandwidth allocation in increments as small as two megabits per second, enabling deterministic, circuit-switched paths for AI traffic that avoid the queuing delays of packet networks. The company also launched an ultra-large OTN cluster solution and an integrated submarine-terrestrial cable system for data-center interconnect, along with AI Dynamic Adaptive Scheduling and a 50-millisecond Wavelength Switched Optical Network protection mechanism for network resilience.
Kim Jin, Vice President of Huawei's Optical Business Product Line, stated that Huawei is advancing its optical-AI convergence strategy. Bob Chen, President of Huawei Optical Business Product Line, previously highlighted Huawei's Next Generation Optical Network solutions, focusing on "AI for Networks" and "Networks for AI." The International Telecommunication Union published its ION-2030 vision for next-generation optical networks in October 2025, a roadmap that Huawei's AI-ON product series aims to implement.