BEAD may be a big disappointment, but fiber demand from AI is hot, hot, hot

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times in the fiber industry, which has taken a big blow because of revisions to the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but the Fiber Broadband Association’s latest webinar focused on the opportunities that fiber players have to connect Artificial Intelligence data centers. Speaking on the FBA webinar, Michael Render, CEO of RVA Market Research and Consulting, said everyone has heard about the major challenges to building new AI data centers, including the procurement of land, energy, water and semiconductors. “All these things are potential constraints to meeting this dream of AI that is out there,” said Render. “But one that is not discussed near enough is the fiber infrastructure.” Render said many of the newer data centers “are going to be out in the middle of nowhere,” and yet they must be connected with fiber. “So, we've got to create new laterals from those to the nearest internet connection point in different directions, if possible. And so, each one of those we're looking at 35 to 50 miles on average.”