The growing demand for AI workloads is pushing data centers to rethink their network infrastructure, with experts predicting a sixfold increase in data center interconnect (DCI) bandwidth over the next five years. A study commissioned by Ciena found that 43% of new data center facilities will focus on artificial intelligence (AI), as model training and inference require more data movement than before.
“AI workloads are reshaping the entire data center landscape, from infrastructure builds to bandwidth demand,” said Jürgen Hatheier, chief technology officer, International, Ciena. “Historically, network traffic has grown at a rate of 20-30% 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, conducted with Censuswide, gathered responses from more than 1,300 data center decision-makers across 13 countries. More than half of respondents (53%) said AI workloads will be the biggest driver of DCI demand in the next two to three years, surpassing cloud computing (51%) and big data analytics (44%).
AI networks require new strategies
To support this shift, data center operators are looking for ways to manage power and space while increasing network performance. The study found that 98% of experts see pluggable optics as important for reducing power consumption and the physical footprint of network infrastructure.
The Ciena research also suggests AI model training will be distributed across multiple data centers, requiring better connectivity between facilities. About 81% of respondents said Large Language Model (LLM) training would take place over distributed AI data centers. When asked about the key factors influencing AI inference deployment, respondents highlighted resource utilization (63%), reducing latency (56%), data sovereignty requirements (54%), and strategic customer locations (54%).
Ensuring an AI-ready infrastructure
Instead of deploying dark fiber, 67% of respondents expect to use Managed Optical Fiber Networks (MOFN) to connect data centers over long distances.
“The AI revolution is not just about compute — it’s about connectivity,” said 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.”