Fujikura’s Rebound Puts CEO Reassurance and a $73 Billion Fiber Forecast in the Spotlight

Fujikura shares snapped a four-day losing streak on Thursday, climbing 4.9% to ¥5,059 in Tokyo, a move that pushed the euro-denominated equivalent to €27.40. The bounce came as the Nikkei 225 rose 1,361 points to 68,180, ending three straight sessions of losses in a broad recovery driven by semiconductor and data-center names. For a stock that had dropped 12.9% in the first week of July alone and touched a low of ¥4,824 earlier in the month, Thursday’s rally offered a brief reprieve in what has been an exceptionally volatile summer.

President Naoki Okada has been working to steady nerves from the top floor. After the slide, he reiterated this week that annual targets are “not going to be missed” and stressed that Fujikura continues to receive orders from nearly every US hyperscaler for its optical-fiber cables. Delivery capacity is so tight that some customers are accepting higher prices, he said, adding that the company’s conservative forecasts already account for worst-case scenarios such as a hydrogen-supply bottleneck. The comments helped stem the selling pressure, though the broader sentiment around Japanese tech stocks remains the dominant driver of the stock’s daily swings.

Behind the short-term noise lies a longer runway. New market data released Thursday projects the fiber-optic market driven by artificial intelligence will reach roughly $73 billion by 2030, fueled by demand for low-latency, high-capacity links between AI compute clusters. Competitor Lightpath announced plans the same day to build fiber networks for two new hyperscale data centers, each exceeding one gigawatt of capacity — exactly the kind of massive projects that require the advanced cable solutions Fujikura specializes in. Broader infrastructure spending is also accelerating: the Dell’Oro Group reported on July 9 that the data-center physical infrastructure market expanded 28% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth above 20%.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Fujikura?

Yet the stock remains one of the most volatile in Japan, ranking in the 90th percentile for price swings. The 30-day annualized volatility stands at around 130%, and a typical weekly move is roughly 8% in either direction. The Relative Strength Index sits at 43.3, squarely in neutral territory, giving no clear directional signal. The split among retail investors reflects that indecision: a Thursday survey on trading platforms showed 37% with a “strong buy” stance against 22% wanting to “strong sell”.

Investor rotation out of high-growth tech into value sectors had weighed on the stock in recent weeks, but the persistent demand for optical hardware appears to be providing a floor. Industry observers note that chipmakers and infrastructure suppliers are now sharing demand forecasts stretching two years or more into the future, suggesting the current capex cycle in AI infrastructure may last longer than previous hardware booms — a direct positive for Fujikura’s fiber backlog. Until second-quarter results arrive in August, however, the stock will likely continue to ride the broader AI and semiconductor sentiment, with the CEO’s assurances providing a modest buffer against the volatility that has come to define this name.