Optical fiber makes artificial intelligence possible
Generative AI opens up infrastructure challenges that are a perfect match for Corning’s capabilities.
AI needs a strong data-moving infrastructure. Glass fiber – thin as hair – is the answer.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how we live, saving time and effort better spent elsewhere.
Generative AI, in particular, produces text, video, and images for us. But Gen AI’s large language models need a sturdy, efficient data-moving infrastructure.
We already know that AI relies on hair-thin strands of glass – known as optical fiber – to do all this, but at what scale?
Think about this: One AI data center campus under construction in Louisiana will be so large that it would cover a significant part of Manhattan. AI data centers require over 10 times more fiber, compared to traditional data centers. Imagine how much fiber would be used in that facility! And data centers that require more fiber optic connectivity are being mapped out every year. It’s safe to say that many hyperscale AI data centers use Corning’s product and expertise in one or both these ways:
- Inside the data center, AI requires innovative high-density solutions that fit more fiber into the same space.
- Outside the data center, long-haul networks need to connect regional data center hubs to each other – and ultimately to you!
“Gen AI requires fiber density and scale on a level that few could have predicted,” says Mike O'Day, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Corning Optical Communications. “Corning started more than five years ago to solve these scale and density challenges – and today, our customers are delighted with the results.”
Corning invented the first low-loss optical fiber more than 50 years ago, and the material continues to change lives. Delivering high-speed internet and making advanced AI applications possible, Corning’s fiber optic solutions evolve with human potential. Corning has more than 1,000 pending and granted patents worldwide related to data center applications, with more than 100 filed in the last 12 months – highlighting just how fast Corning is innovating.
Mike O’Day, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Corning Optical Communications, explains how fiber is shaping the future of generative AI.
“Fiber has the power to shape the future of Gen AI,” O’Day says. “Fifty-five years ago, Corning ushered in a telecom revolution with our invention of the first low-loss optical fiber. From that moment, we have continued to extend our leadership, constantly winning new customers that grow into trust-based relationships that last for decades.”
A shining beacon of Corning’s AI offerings is Corning® GlassWorks AI™ Solutions, a “one stop shop” of products and services for data center operators who need to design and expand their fiber infrastructure for AI applications. The GlassWorks name evokes Corning’s history: Corning was known as Corning Glass Works until 1989. Now, Corning is drawing on its world-leading expertise in glass science, ceramic science, and optical physics to help usher in the age of AI with the most advanced optical solutions anywhere.
“Our GlassWorks AI solutions are designed to help operators create customized networks and tackle the complex infrastructure challenges data center operators face, the most common being scale and density,” O’Day says. “And we can customize them to whatever customers need.”
Fitting fiber into small spaces
Many big tech companies are enhancing their existing data centers to meet AI demands. They need more connectivity in the same amount of space.
That’s the challenge: fitting more fiber and smarter accelerators into data centers.
Corning is meeting these needs with smaller-diameter SMF-28® Contour fiber. Not only does this innovative material save space, with its 40% smaller cross-sectional area, it also offers superior performance, delivering bend-protected connectivity in tight, challenging spaces like data center racks.
The right connectivity solutions are essential as well. Utilizing smaller and higher-fiber count hardware like miniaturized multifiber connectivity (MMC) connectors enables three times more fiber connections than legacy high-density solutions.
“This allows data centers to efficiently utilize their footprint, helping them meet the challenges of scale and density head-on,” O’Day says.
Connecting data centers together
Data centers are connected by optical fiber.
The fiber focus isn’t limited to inside data centers. Fiber also connects data centers to one another.
For example, in data center hubs like Northern Virginia, where many large companies are strategically located to serve East Coast customers, fiber is essential.
“The U.S. currently has six major data center hubs, and we expect that number to more than double by 2030,” O’Day says.
This anticipated growth is driving the need for new high-bandwidth, point-to-point data center interconnect solutions to connect these emerging hubs.
“We are meeting this demand with our new high-density ContourTM Flow cables, offering twice the fiber capacity in the same cable diameter, and reducing installation costs for our clients,” O’Day says.
Fiber is the future
As AI applications continue to grow, fiber – a lot of it – will be the material that makes it all happen. For O’Day, optical fiber is expanding the bandwidth of human potential.
“When you think about Gen AI, it’s really remarkable to consider how relevant Corning’s capabilities are to the most important technology trend of our time,” O’Day says. “We’re proud to be doing our part to make it a reality.”