Fujikura, a Tokyo-based fibre-optic cable manufacturer, is raising prices on cables used inside AI data centres as demand from US hyperscalers outpaces supply. CEO Naoki Okada says the company will beat its own forecast despite shares falling over 40% from a May peak, attributing the conservative guidance to worst-case scenarios like hydrogen shortages affecting manufacturing. Fujikura, alongside Sumitomo Electric and Furukawa Electric, dominates the high-end cable market and holds significant pricing power. US rival Corning has already locked in multi-billion dollar supply deals with Meta and Nvidia, signalling that hyperscalers view fibre-optic capacity as a critical infrastructure constraint. The stock decline reflects market skepticism about Fujikura's ability to scale production fast enough to meet surging AI cluster demand.
