Study says 2.3x more fiber needed to support U.S. AI by 2029

The Fiber Broadband Association today published results from research performed by RVA LLC in the report titled “The Under Appreciated Need to Enable AI and Data Center Growth: Increased and More Strategic Fiber Interconnections.” The paper calls attention to the urgent and underrecognized need to expand and upgrade fiber infrastructure to support the exploding capacity demands from artificial intelligence (AI) applications on hyperscale data centers. 

As AI rapidly transforms the digital landscape, the U.S. is expected to see at least a 3x increase in hyperscale data center capacity by 2029. However, that increase in capacity would require a 2x increase in fiber route miles and a 2.3x increase in total fiber miles. The FBA report outlines how fiber-optic interconnections have transitioned from a “behind the scenes” data center enabler to foundational infrastructure critical to AI performance, scalability, and security.  

“The need for fast, secure, low-latency connections between hyperscale data centers has accelerated with the birth of AI. Given the laws of physics, fiber remains the superior medium of interconnection cable used between data centers and users,” said Deborah Kish, VP of Research and Workforce Development at the Fiber Broadband Association. “This research reveals the scale of the challenge and the urgent need for new investment, policy modernization, and smarter infrastructure planning to keep pace with AI innovation.”  

FBA’s paper identifies three major areas of need for interconnects to bring AI to its full potential:  

• New short interconnections for every new hyperscale data center, averaging 135 route miles of connectivity per site.
• Upgrades to existing long-haul fiber interconnections to increase capacity.
• Entirely new long-haul interconnection routes to meet latency and bandwidth requirements. 

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