Global telecommunications is increasingly run on optical fiber -- thin, flexible strands of glass through which light signals are pulsed to transmit data for everything from voice phone calls to web surfing. And this trend is accelerating thanks to vast improvements (in bandwidth, speed of transmission, and signal integrity) over legacy copper wire.

As recently as 2015, for example, Statista data shows that only 11% of broadband connections in the United States were fiber optic. By 2022, that number had nearly doubled to 20.4%. (Don't get too excited. The U.S. is still far behind such countries as Korea, Japan, Spain, and Sweden, all of which have better than 80% fiber optic penetration.)

Notably, the biggest U.S. maker of glass used in this technology -- (NYSE: GLW) -- is actually only the No. 3 manufacturer of fiber optics globally. Both Switzerland's TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL) and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation are bigger. Clearly, America could do better -- and the good news is that it's trying.

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Source Fool.com