It’s no secret that AI is driving more than a few infrastructure decisions here and there in the industry right now. Most of what we hear about is in the data center arena as companies build more high density colo in which to put all the necessary racks and servers to scale AI. But now we are starting too see the same AI demand drive new behavior in the fiber sector in order to properly connect it all.
Yesterday, Lumen created a new Custom Networks division in response to some $5B in new business driven by AI-related demand. They are also actively talking to customers about another $7B, and neither of those numbers is a minor amount. Meanwhile, they have lined up a significant amount of the actual fiber cable they will need to make it all happen via an agreement with Corning.
What are they going to do with all that new fiber they’ve committed to? Well, they are going to double their intercity route miles, apparently. Since I rather doubt they will be digging things up nationally, I suspect this means they will be pulling new fiber cable into those extra conduits from the Level 3, Qwest, and Wiltel days.
The maps they give do talk about new infrastructure between Seattle/Denver, LA/El Paso, and Detroit-Albany though, but details have not been given. No doubt we will hear more about those plans over time.
But with the backing required coming in from the AI world, they will have the necessary resources to do it for sure. However they manage the necessary investments, that new fiber will likely go to meet demand at the dark fiber level rather than just to augment Lumen’s own IP and transport businesses.
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Categories: Datacenter · Fiber Networks · Fiber optic cable · Internet Backbones
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