Femtosecond lasers are used to manufacture components for AI data center equipment, including parts used in advanced optical connections that speed up data transfer. Femtosecond lasers emit extremely short pulses, lasting quadrillionths of a second, that allow manufacturers to process next-generation materials with minimal heat damage.
The rapid expansion of AI data centers is expected to more than double AI infrastructure capital expenditure over the next five years, while the market for optical connections designed to accelerate data transfers could grow nearly 400-fold, according to reports from Goldman Sachs and TrendForce. Experts at femtosecond laser company LITILIT say the AI boom is also fueling demand for advanced laser technologies capable of processing materials with exceptional precision while generating minimal heat.
A Goldman Sachs report estimates that annual spending on AI infrastructure will rise from $765 billion in 2026 to $1.6 trillion by 2031, driven by growing demand for computing power, data center construction, and energy infrastructure. The report also cautions that shortages in power, labor, and equipment could extend the time between capital commitments and fully operational data centers.
According to Nikolajus Gavrilinas, CEO of femtosecond laser manufacturer LITILIT, one of the less visible bottlenecks could be the precision manufacturing tools required to produce components for next-generation data center equipment.
“Many advanced AI components, from semiconductor packages, glass substrates, to optical interconnects and advanced PCBs, require manufacturing technologies that can process materials without introducing heat damage. Femtosecond lasers are becoming one of the key enabling tools for this transition, and we believe demand will grow rapidly as AI manufacturing scales,” Gavrilinas says.
Accelerating Data Transfer for the AI Era
One of the major challenges in making data centers more efficient is increasing the speed at which data can move between components. TrendForce recently forecast that the market for co-packaged and near-packaged optics—optical connections designed to accelerate data transfer—will expand from approximately $100 million in 2025 to more than $39 billion by 2030.
According to Gavrilinas, femtosecond lasers are increasingly being used to manufacture components for technologies that enable faster data transmission.
One example is the production of glass interposers, wiring layers used in advanced AI hardware and data center equipment to connect chiplets. Femtosecond lasers can drill microscopic holes through glass, which are subsequently filled with copper to create tiny vertical electrical connections.
“A normal laser or mechanical drill heats the material as it cuts, and glass can crack or chip when heated unevenly. A femtosecond laser fires pulses so short—quadrillionths of a second—that the surrounding glass has almost no time to heat up. The same precision is also used to manufacture other data center equipment wherever something needs to be cut, trimmed, or fixed with almost no heat,” Gavrilinas explains.
Making Femtosecond Lasers Ready for Industrial-Scale Production
Despite growing demand, producing femtosecond lasers at industrial scale remains challenging. Gavrilinas notes that many existing systems evolved from scientific equipment and can deliver excellent performance, but are often difficult to automate and require highly qualified specialists to operate.
To help close this adoption gap, LITILIT developed a new technology based on several patented inventions created by co-founders Kęstutis Regelskis, Nerijus Rusteika, and Nikolajus Gavrilinas, in close collaboration with the Center for Physical Sciences and Technology (FTMC) in Vilnius.
The technology enables the production of femtosecond lasers with a purpose-built design, fewer components, and a high degree of automation, potentially making the technology more suitable for industrial applications.
In June 2026, LITILIT began construction of a laser factory in Vilnius, Lithuania, with plans to eventually replicate the manufacturing model in collaboration with international partners.
As AI infrastructure continues to scale, the demand for faster data movement and increasingly sophisticated hardware is creating new requirements across the manufacturing supply chain. Femtosecond laser technology could become an important enabling technology in meeting those requirements—helping manufacturers produce the precision components needed for the next generation of AI data centers.
