April 22, 2025, One of the major features of this year's OFC must be that many companies have adopted brand-new names. Some companies made announcements before OFC. For example, Hisense changed its name to Ligent. Well, it's not exactly a change because Ligent has always existed and has always been Hisense's American company. Some others simply gave everyone a surprise secretly. For instance, HG Genuine launched a brand-new logo, Genuine Optics. If the editor wasn't particularly familiar with the word "Genuine" and hadn't heard Wuhan dialect on the booth, they would really have thought it was a new company. Of course, the most thorough name change is that Innolight is now called TeraHop (Hop on the Terabits) and is exhibiting as a Thai company.

Chinese companies showing up with a new image are all trying to avoid the impact of the current China-US trade war. A friend who is familiar with the situation told the editor that the company had already made arrangements for using a new name a long time ago. Although it's just a matter of the name and the identity of a Chinese company can't be completely removed, at least using the new name in the customer's supply chain management system can save a lot of trouble in the future.

They are not the only ones changing their names at OFC. Admant, a Japanese company famous for its precision ceramic devices, announced at the end of 2022 that it would adopt a new company name, Orbray, starting from January 1, 2023. The press release introduced themselves as follows: "Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel was founded in 1939. Starting from producing bearing jewels for electricity meters, by utilizing its jewel processing technology, it began to manufacture ferrules, sleeves, etc. for optical communication parts since the 1980s and holds a large market share in the world. In addition, while providing important optical components such as receptacles and Pig tails that require high-precision assembly technology, as well as optical devices such as optical switches and optical attenuators using MEMS technology, it is committed to the research, development, and processing of high-end FA essential for data centers and silicon optical communication, and provides products in multiple fields such as DC coreless motors and precision parts processed using materials like diamond and sapphire." On the company's website, CEO Riyako Namiki pointed out that the new name reflects the historical advantages and future vision of the two companies, Admant and Namiki. "Orb" means a sphere, and "ray" represents light. Combined, Orbray means, on the one hand, the earth we live on, and on the other hand, the light emitted by the abrasive materials on the earth, representing the company's core competitive advantage in cutting, grinding, and polishing.

    With Mr.Zhao (Left) from Orbray on OFC 2025

The Admant we are familiar with actually merged with the Namiki company in 2018 to form the Admant Namiki company. However, due to fewer visits to Japan in recent years, the editor didn't have a deep impression of it. This time, it finally left a deep impression. In recent years, Orbray has been actively developing a new generation of semiconductor material, diamond wafers. Back then, they lost their leading edge in the ceramic ferrule field due to price competition, but through technological innovation and cooperation, they have found a brand-new advantageous industry. This is really a good example of an enterprise's transformation and upgrading.

Another Japanese company that changed its name is OFS. According to the news, on March 6, 2025, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. announced that it would unify its global fiber optic cable business under a new business brand, Lightera™, and officially launch it at the OFC conference. This strategic move combines Furukawa Electric's three fiber optic cable business divisions - the Fiber Optic Cable Division (Japan), OFS Fitel, LLC (OFS), and Furukawa Electric Latin America (FEL) - under a unified structure. Foad Shaikhzadeh will lead this global initiative, serving as Chairman and CEO, and Holly Hulse will serve as President and COO. The brand name "Lightera" symbolizes a new era powered by light, reflecting the potential for technological and cultural progress. The Lightera logo is inspired by a lighthouse, representing the company's commitment to leading the industry forward with advanced fiber optic technology.

It has to be said that the name changes of these companies at OFC are a bit sudden. The editor noticed Orbray when meeting a friend on the booth, and only noticed the news about Lightera after the exhibition when looking at the Moments on WeChat. In Chinese culture, changing a name is often for the purpose of changing one's fortune. In fact, at last year's OFC, XDK used the name of a Vietnamese company, Profiber, which can be regarded as setting a precedent. Such a collective name change makes this year's OFC create history.