---
title: "When to Buy: Reading the Transceiver Price Cycle Before It Reads You"
type: market_alert
target_audience: sales
score: 9/10
---

Every network upgrade has a procurement window. Buy too early and you're paying innovation-phase prices for technology that'll be 40% cheaper in 18 months. Buy too late and supply pressure hits you six weeks before you need to cut over. Understanding where you are in the price cycle for the technologies you're deploying is worth more than any volume discount a vendor will offer you.

The price cycle for optical transceivers follows a pattern that's been consistent enough across enough generations of technology to be predictable. Not precisely predictable — this isn't a formula, and supply chain disruptions can distort the timing — but the direction is reliable.

A new optic type launches with limited supply and heavy manufacturing cost. 400G ZR in 2019 was $8,000-12,000 per module. Not because it cost that to make, but because only two manufacturers could make it, and they could charge that. The buyers at that price were building infrastructure that made the economics work at high cost: major cloud providers with very specific capacity requirements, telco operators with constrained fiber paths.

Then multi-vendor qualification happens. More manufacturers certify to the spec. Compatible vendors commission the same DSP chipset. Volume builds. Price falls to $1,500-2,500. Early enterprise adopters buy here, willing to pay a moderate premium for technology that's now proven.

Then commodity entry. The price floor for a mature MSA standard transceiver is roughly manufacturing cost plus margin. For coherent DSP-based optics, manufacturing cost is higher than for direct-detect. For simple SR4 with commodity VCSEL arrays, manufacturing cost is very low. When you see prices compress and multiple vendors offering similar pricing, you're at or near the floor. That's where compatible optics thrive — the technology is understood well enough that rigorous testing can verify compliance, and the price advantage over OEM is substantial.

Right now, in mid-2026, here's where key technology categories sit in this cycle.

100G SR4, LR4, CWDM4: commodity floor. Multiple manufacturers, widespread availability, stable prices for 3+ years. Compatible optics from tier-1 vendors: $22-35 for SR4, $45-75 for LR4. OEM list price 8-12x more. There's no price catalyst that will materially change this. Buy compatible, buy from someone who can guarantee the EEPROM data and batch test reports.

400G DR4 (direct-detect): mature, approaching floor. $25-40 compatible, down from $180 two years ago. Still some room to fall — the DSP architecture was simplified and VCSEL lanes are now commodity. By end 2026, $18-25 is realistic for volume buyers. The decision: if you need units now, $25-35 is a good price. If you can wait 6 months, you might save 20%. The risk: supply shortages happen. At $25/module, the inventory carrying cost of buying now is low. Don't wait for marginal savings on commodity optics.

400G LR4 (direct-detect): still declining. Currently $60-120 compatible, depending on vendor and certification status. ETA to floor: 12-18 months as volume scales. The 10km reach makes this a volume segment for enterprise campus deployments. Buy what you need for current projects; avoid overstocking in anticipation of deployment that's 12+ months out.

400G ZR (coherent): early descent from peak. OEM at $800-1,200, compatible at $250-500 depending on platform validation status. The pattern suggests floor is around $150-250 in 24-36 months as multi-source manufacturing matures. If you're deploying DCI today, you pay today's price. If your DCI deployment is 12+ months out, there's meaningful savings to capture by waiting. The caveat: ZR is platform-validated, not just spec-compliant, so verify that the compatible you're evaluating has test data for your specific line cards.

800G OSFP SR8/DR8: innovation phase. OEM $2,000+, limited compatible availability. This is early-adopter pricing. The use case is specific: AI/ML fabric, very high-density pod-scale switching. If you're building this now, it's because you have the workload that justifies the price. If you're evaluating 800G for 18 months from now, prices will be meaningfully lower.

The supply-side risk factor is currently elevated for specific SKUs. The fab capacity constraints that disrupted 400G supply in 2022-2023 have mostly cleared, but the AI infrastructure buildout is creating localized pressure on high-end pluggables. 800G OSFP and 400G ZR+ are seeing supply-side pressure. Standard 400G DR4 and 100G are not.

What this means for procurement: the commodity-tier decision (anything 100G, standard 400G DR4/SR4) should be based on project timing and storage logistics, not price speculation. The price isn't going to move enough to justify delayed procurement for active projects. Buy when you need it, from a vendor with consistent supply.

For premium tiers (400G ZR, 400G ZR+, 800G): the price curve matters more. If the deployment timeline is flexible, the savings from waiting 12-18 months can be 30-50% on the coherent side. If the deployment timeline is fixed, don't wait — but negotiate hard on volume pricing and validate that your supplier has confirmed allocation.

The other factor nobody discusses: the cost of the wrong decision. Buying early at peak prices is a known, quantifiable cost. The delayed deployment cost — traffic not flowing, capacity not available, customers waiting — is usually much larger. Most procurement teams optimize for the known cost (module price) while underestimating the unknown cost (deployment delay). When in doubt, buy at current prices and deploy on schedule.

The pricing data we track across 60+ vendors shows price movements in real time. When prices for a specific SKU start dropping across multiple vendors in the same 30-day window, that's a signal that the manufacturing cost has been hit and competition is driving toward the floor. That's the data signal that justifies waiting. One vendor dropping prices while others hold steady is promotional, not structural.

Watch the data. Know your timeline. Don't buy equipment for a deployment that's 18 months out at today's innovation-phase prices. Don't delay an active deployment to catch a price floor that may not arrive on your schedule. The pricing cycle is predictable in direction, not in timing.
