--- description: Find out why Microsoft Hollow Core Fiber is on TIME's list of 2025's best inventions. title: Microsoft Hollow Core Fiber: The Best Inventions of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb46711dee8be602/6998ca319fbc7c1a96d9a75c/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 09, 2025 # Microsoft Hollow Core Fiber Faster data transmission by [Charlotte Hu](/author/charlotte-hu/) ## Charlotte Hu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Associate Editor  Courtesy Microsoft Data travels across the cloud mainly as light via optical fibers made from solid glass. But that light—and thus that data—travels faster through air. “With hollow core fiber, the glass \[has\] an air core in the middle,” says Frank Rey, General Manager of Azure Hyperscale Networking at Microsoft, which this year [showed](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01747-5 "undefined") that its hollow-core fiber achieved the lowest signal loss ever. “And because we can use more parts of the optical spectrum to send data, the transmission and overall total capacity is improved.” Current hollow-core fibers extend data transmission up to 1.5 times the distance of today's technology. Microsoft has more than 2,000 kilometers of fiber in production in Europe, mainly as interconnections between data centers, with over 12,000 kilometers planned for deployment in the next year. These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. Microsoft Hollow Core Fiber: The Best Inventions of 2025 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318263/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318263/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber/"},"headline":"Microsoft Hollow Core Fiber","datePublished":"2025-10-09T11:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:47.190Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318263/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","Best Inventions 2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb46711dee8be602/6998ca319fbc7c1a96d9a75c/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Hu","jobTitle":"Associate Editor","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-hu/"}],"creator":"Charlotte Hu","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb46711dee8be602/6998ca319fbc7c1a96d9a75c/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318263/microsoft-hollow-core-fiber/","name":"Microsoft Hollow Core Fiber"}}]}] ```