Verizon and Corning have agreed a multi-billion-dollar fibre supply deal covering more than 80 million miles of high-density optical fibre and connectivity products between 2027 and 2032, as demand for broadband and AI infrastructure accelerates.
The agreement is intended to support Verizon’s expansion of consumer broadband and converged services while meeting the growing connectivity requirements of AI hyperscalers.
Verizon Business CEO Kyle Malady said securing fibre at such scale would enable the operator to build its “network of the future” by combining mobile connectivity and broadband within a single converged architecture.
He said the deployment would also provide the high-capacity, low-latency backbone required by AI hyperscalers.
The fibre supply will support Verizon’s medium-term target of reaching between 40 million and 50 million broadband passings as it expands fibre-to-the-home and business connectivity.
Under the strategy, cell towers, enterprise data centres and residential neighbourhoods will be connected to the same high-capacity backbone, creating a unified infrastructure for mobile, broadband and data centre connectivity.
The agreement is also central to Verizon’s AI Connect strategy, which involves deploying dense fibre cabling along major long-haul corridors to connect data centres directly.
Verizon said the approach would position it as an infrastructure partner for major AI hyperscalers, including Amazon Web Services, while extending the benefits of AI-related connectivity to consumers, businesses, schools and communities.
Corning Optical Communications Senior Vice-President and General Manager Mike O’Day said the expanded partnership would help connect AI data centres while extending high-speed fibre access to homes.
The agreement builds on a three-decade partnership between Verizon and Corning and is structured to allow Corning to continue expanding its US manufacturing capacity to supply the physical materials required for Verizon’s network buildout.
Corning also supplies fibre to AT&T, having signed a $1 billion multi-year agreement with the operator in October 2024 to support AT&T’s Gigapower fibre joint venture and wider broadband expansion.
The Verizon deal comes as the operator continues to expand its fibre footprint through a combination of direct investment and wholesale partnerships.
In July, Bain Capital and Tillman Global Holdings invested $1.5 billion in Eaton Fiber, Verizon’s exclusive wholesale fibre-building partner, to fund the acquisition of Ripple Fiber and accelerate network expansion to more than one million locations outside Verizon’s existing footprint.
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman has described the wholesale partnership model as a capital-efficient way to extend the company’s fibre broadband reach.
Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile US are also expanding their fibre holdings through joint ventures, wholesale agreements and acquisitions of fibre-rich companies as they seek to support the convergence of mobile and fibre-based broadband services.
