AI growth drives demand for more data center bandwidth
The rapid growth of AI workloads is driving a major transformation in data center network infrastructure according to a new study from Ciena.
The research, conducted by Censuswide, surveyed more than 1,300 data center decision makers across 13 countries. 53 percent of respondents believe AI workloads will place the biggest demand on data center interconnect (DCI) infrastructure over the next two to three years, more than cloud computing (51 percent) and big data analytics (44 percent).
To meet surging AI demand, 43 percent of new data center facilities are expected to be dedicated to AI workloads. With AI model training and inference requiring unprecedented data movement, data center experts predict a massive leap in bandwidth needs. In addition, when asked about the needed performance of fiber optic capacity for DCI, 87 percent of participants believe they will need 800 Gb/s or higher per wavelength.
"AI workloads are reshaping the entire data center landscape, from infrastructure builds to bandwidth demand," says Jürgen Hatheier, chief technology officer, international at Ciena. "Historically, network traffic has grown at a rate of 20-30 percent per year. AI is set to accelerate this growth significantly, meaning operators are rethinking their architectures and planning for how they can meet this demand sustainably."
The survey also finds that as requirements for AI computing continue to increase, the training of Large Language Models will become more distributed across different AI data centers. According to the survey, 81 percent of respondents believe LLM training will take place over some level of distributed data center facilities, which will require DCI solutions to be connected to each other. When asked about the key factors shaping where AI inference will be deployed AI resource utilization over time is the top priority (63 percent), followed by reducing latency by placing inference compute closer to users at the edge (56 percent), data sovereignty requirements (54 percent), and offering strategic locations for key customers (54 percent).
In terms of connectivity 67 percent of respondents expect to use Managed Optical Fiber Networks (MOFN), which utilize carrier-operated high-capacity networks for long-haul data center connectivity.
"The AI revolution is not just about compute -- it's about connectivity," adds Hatheier. "Without the right network foundation, AI’s full potential can't be realized. Operators must ensure their DCI infrastructure is ready for a future where AI-driven traffic dominates."
You can find out more on the Ciena blog.
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