Fibre optics with air inside. Microsoft unveils technology that will accelerate data centres and AI

Microsoft, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Southampton, has unveiled a new generation of fibre-optic cable that could significantly impact network architecture in data centres and the development of artificial intelligence.

The technology, based on the work of Lumensity, which was acquired in 2022, allows light to be transmitted through a core filled with air rather than solid glass.

A key advantage of the new solution, known as Hollow-Core Fiber (HCF), is the fundamental increase in transmission speed. Light in air travels at close to 300 million metres per second, whereas in traditional glass fibre it slows down to around 200 million m/s.

This difference translates into a reduction in delay (latency) of up to 45%, a value that cannot be underestimated in applications requiring real-time communication.

Until now, the main barrier to the commercialisation of hollow-core optical fibres has been high signal loss. However, the research team managed to overcome this problem, achieving a record low attenuation level of 0.091 decibels per kilometre.

This is an improvement on standard fibre optic cables, where the loss is around 0.14 dB/km.

Lower attenuation means that the signal requires less frequent amplification, which directly leads to less energy consumption in the network infrastructure.

In the future, HCF technology also has the potential to support up to ten times the capacity of current standards.

The practical applications of this innovation range from ultra-fast connections between data centres, to accelerating the training processes of AI models, to communication in autonomous vehicles.

The new cables have already been tested with UK telecoms operator BT and are being deployed for internal use on Microsoft’s infrastructure.

Wider commercial availability to other players in the market is anticipated over the next five years.