Dark Fiber Market Size

Global Dark Fiber Market size was valued at USD 6.4 Billion in 2023 poised to grow between USD 7.25 Billion in 2024 to USD 19.69 Billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 13.3% in the forecast period (2025-2032).

The explosive rise in digital services such as 5G, AI applications, and cloud computing has significantly increased the demand for ultra-fast and low-latency connectivity. Public network infrastructures often struggle to handle such intense and time-sensitive traffic, leading enterprises to adopt dark fiber. By leasing or owning unused fiber optic cables, companies gain dedicated bandwidth and full control over their network architecture. This ensures scalability, security, and speed without interference from shared traffic. As a result, telecom operators, data center providers, and hyperscale cloud firms are aggressively expanding dark fiber networks to meet growing performance and reliability demands.

Global data consumption is expanding rapidly due to the increasing adoption of video streaming, cloud services, smart devices, and IoT ecosystems. As a result, IP traffic is forecasted to grow at a compound annual rate exceeding 20%, placing immense strain on existing telecom and internet infrastructure. This growing pressure forces enterprises to seek more robust, flexible solutions—prompting widespread adoption of dark fiber. Dark fiber provides a scalable pathway to handle soaring data loads while maintaining high performance and security. Consequently, businesses in data-intensive sectors like finance, healthcare, and media are investing heavily in dark fiber to future-proof their networks.

What Type of Data Centers are Most Affected by AI’s Growing Bandwidth Needs?

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technologies has led to an exponential increase in data processing and transmission requirements, particularly for training large language models and real-time inference tasks. This surge in demand compels hyperscale data centers and AI firms to seek dedicated, high-capacity bandwidth—making dark fiber a critical infrastructure choice. Additionally, AI is being used to optimize network operations by analyzing fiber usage patterns, detecting faults, and automating rerouting. For example, companies like Lumen Technologies have secured multi-billion-dollar deals to expand dark fiber networks, specifically to support the growing bandwidth needs driven by AI-centric workloads and platforms.

In July 2024, Microsoft partnered with Lumen Technologies to expand dark fiber capacity and enhance network infrastructure for AI workloads. This collaboration aims to support the growing bandwidth and low latency demands of advanced AI models, reinforcing Microsoft's global data center scalability and accelerating large-scale AI deployment initiatives.