AI boom creates connectivity challenge for integrators

The latest industry insight from Altnets aligns with the findings of other recent research and product launches from major IT providers, finding that thanks to the seemingly endless rise of artificial intelligence (AI), the next major challenge facing integrators will be the need to deploy the physical infrastructure needed to support AI’s growth.

The report forms the second instalment in Altnets’ whitepaper series exploring market shifts, fibre demand and the infrastructure strategies shaping the future of digital connectivity.

The first paper examined the evolving fibre shortage landscape and mitigation strategies. The latest edition explores how accelerating AI adoption, datacentre expansion and growing digital demand is placing increasing pressure on networks, fibre infrastructure and supply chains.

Indeed, it noted that what began as a surge in AI software innovation has quickly evolved into one of the largest infrastructure expansion cycles the technology sector has ever experienced. It stressed that the AI boom is not just a computer story, but a connectivity story.

The whitepaper explained how AI is increasingly becoming an infrastructure challenge as much as a technology one, and that infrastructure such as fibre networks, optical connectivity, backhaul capacity and interconnect architecture is rapidly becoming the foundation that future digital economies will rely on.

At the same time, broader societal and technological shifts – including automation, fixed wireless access (FWA), edge computing, the internet of things (IoT) and increasingly mobile-first behaviours – are continuing to drive significant increases in global data consumption.

According to the paper, this is accelerating demand for dense fibre connectivity across centralised datacentre environments and, increasingly, distributed edge and wireless infrastructure. As a result, the industry is entering a new phase of infrastructure development, where resilience is no longer simply about mitigating disruption.

Organisations that invest in scalable connectivity and long-term infrastructure strategy today will be better positioned to support the demands of tomorrow’s AI-driven economy

Fibre was pinpointed as the strategic resource behind AI. As AI workloads continue to scale, fibre and optical connectivity are emerging as critical infrastructure, and the challenge is shifting from generating compute power to transporting vast volumes of data across increasingly distributed environments with speed, reliability and ultra-low latency.

Altnets noted that AI models require enormous amounts of data to move continuously between hyperscale datacentres, cloud environments, metro networks and edge infrastructure.

In addition, connectivity infrastructure in the age of AI was shown to be no longer just enabling digital transformation – rather, it is shaping the speed, scale and competitiveness of entire digital economies.

The paper highlighted how across the globe, hyperscale datacentres are expanding at an accelerated pace as developers race to increase compute capacity, process larger AI workloads and support the growing demands of automation, cloud services and real-time digital connectivity.

It also highlighted a number of industry trends that the connectivity firm said were “significant”. First, it cited ABI Research showing that global active datacentre capacity is forecast to increase almost sixfold between 2025 and 2035, rising from 24.4GW to 147.1GW. It also cited JLL data predicting that AI workloads could account for approximately 50% of total global datacentre capacity by the end of the decade.

It added that proposed AI-related datacentre projects currently seeking UK grid connections could require around 50GW of electricity capacity, exceeding Great Britain’s current peak demand.

Another key finding was that for integrators, the challenge is no longer simply expanding capacity, but about building scalable, future-ready networks capable of supporting unknown future demand in an increasingly distributed and AI-driven digital landscape. The integrators best positioned to lead the next phase of digital infrastructure growth will be those capable of combining intelligent network design, resilient supply ecosystems, strategic collaboration and future-ready infrastructure planning into long-term operational advantage.

Altnets suggested that as fibre, backhaul and interconnect architecture become increasingly strategic, providers will need partners that understand not only product availability, but also network architecture, supply chain management and long-term deployment resilience.

“The industry is moving into a new era where network resilience and infrastructure readiness are becoming just as important as capacity itself. Organisations that invest in scalable connectivity and long-term infrastructure strategy today will be better positioned to support the demands of tomorrow’s AI-driven economy,” remarked Altnets commercial director Andy Ainsley.