Verizon touts $1B dark fiber deal for Google data centers as first of many

A major telecom company announced a deal worth over one billion dollars to connect a tech company's data centers using its dark fiber routes, while also converting some of its own network facilities into small data centers designed to support AI inference workloads. The company expects this new business initiative to generate multiple billions of dollars in revenue over several years by addressing two AI infrastructure needs: connecting data centers together and providing low-latency computing power for applications like autonomous driving and robotics deployed at the network edge rather than in massive centralized facilities. The telecom company had recently expanded its fiber network significantly through an acquisition, giving it unused fiber capacity that can now be repurposed for these AI-focused ventures. These deals are projected to begin impacting revenues and margins next year and grow substantially over the following five to ten years.