To better support AI workloads, Microsoft is accelerating the global deployment of hollow-core

 optical fiber. The tech giant has reached an agreement with Corning and German supplier

 Heraeus to establish a "multinational production supply chain to scale the production of 

next-generation optical fiber." Microsoft announced the move in a blog post.

Hollow-core optical fiber differs from traditional single-mode optical fiber in that it transmits

 light signals through a hollow, air-filled channel rather than a solid glass core. Proponents

 of the technology believe that because light travels faster in air than in glass, hollow-core 

optical fiber has the potential to provide higher bandwidth for latency-sensitive applications.

For Corning, this is its first public announcement that it will manufacture hollow-core optical

 fiber. The company's optical fiber products have attracted interest from companies such as 

Lumen, which has reserved 10% of Corning's global optical fiber production capacity for its

 enterprise optical backbone network. Corning will produce the hollow-core optical fiber at 

its North Carolina facility. Heraeus, a German company that supplies quartz and fused silica

 products to the semiconductor, photonics, and telecommunications industries, will manufacture 

the fiber at its facilities in Europe and the United States.