Japan sets record for Internet speed, 4 million times faster than US network

Scientists at the Photonic Network Laboratory, part of Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), have just announced a new world record for Internet data transmission speed, reaching 125,000 GB/s over a distance of 1,802 km.

This achievement was made possible by the successful development of a groundbreaking new type of optical cable.

This record speed is 4 million times faster than the average fiber optic Internet speed in the US, allowing users to download hundreds of thousands of high-quality (HD) movies in just one second.

Rough estimates suggest that the entire Internet Archive's massive library could be downloaded in less than four minutes at this speed.

NICT's new record far surpasses the previous record set last year by scientists at Aston University (UK), with a data transfer speed of 50,250 GB/s.

Scientists at NICT say a newly developed fiber optic cable is capable of sending data at breakthrough speeds over a distance equivalent to that from New York to Florida.

To achieve this, they compressed 19 individual optical fibers into a cable that is just 0.005 inches (0.127mm) in diameter, which is similar to the size of most standard optical cables today. This is important because the new fiber can be deployed on existing infrastructure without major changes.

Previously, in March 2023, the NICT research team also achieved a similar data transmission speed, but only over a distance one-third of this new record.

The biggest challenge in increasing data transmission distance is signal attenuation. To address this, researchers have combined various amplification technologies to increase signal transmission power, while exploiting the properties of each wavelength of light to optimize signal transmission through fiber optic systems.

This new record shows the remarkable progress in technology to develop high-speed, large-capacity and long-distance data transmission Internet systems to meet the growing demand for connectivity globally.

While promising, it’s unclear when this technology will be put into practice. Even when it is deployed, it will still be a research priority and it will likely be years before the average consumer has access to this super-fast Internet technology.

The practical application of super-fast Internet speeds could become a solid foundation for developing super-smart artificial intelligence (AI) systems, where data can be transmitted and received in the blink of an eye between servers and AI systems, helping them make decisions and handle problems more quickly and intelligently.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/nhat-ban-lap-ky-luc-ve-toc-do-internet-nhanh-gap-4-trieu-lan-mang-tai-my-20250717093834762.htm