According to DCD, Verizon Business has partnered with Amazon Web Services for its Verizon AI Connect product, which launched back in January. The deal involves building new long-haul, high-capacity fiber pathways specifically connecting AWS data center locations. Verizon’s SVP Scott Lawrence emphasized that AI demands networks to match its innovation requirements, while AWS VP Prasad Kalyanaraman highlighted the need for high-performance connections for reliable AI applications. This expands Verizon’s existing AI Connect partnerships that already included Google Cloud and Meta. The announcement comes as Verizon’s new CEO Dan Schulman called for a “full reboot” at the carrier during recent earnings, pushing AI adoption for cost efficiency.
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The infrastructure arms race heats up
Here’s the thing about AI – everyone’s talking about the models and the applications, but the real bottleneck is often the plumbing. All those massive AI workloads need to move data around, and traditional networks just weren’t built for this scale. Verizon’s basically admitting they’ve got underutilized data center assets and fiber capacity, and they’re smartly repurposing it for the AI boom.
Think about it: AWS needs to ensure their customers can run stable diffusion models or train large language models without network bottlenecks killing performance. Meanwhile, Verizon gets to monetize infrastructure that might otherwise sit idle. It’s a classic win-win, but the real winners are enterprises trying to deploy AI at scale without building their own fiber networks.
The telco pivot continues
This isn’t just another partnership – it’s part of Verizon’s broader reinvention under new leadership. When your CEO talks about a “full reboot” and specifically calls out AI for cost savings, you know the company’s serious about shifting direction. Traditional telecom services are becoming commoditized, but AI infrastructure? That’s where the margins and growth potential are.
And let’s be real – Verizon’s playing catch-up in some ways. The cloud providers have been building their own networks for years. But now we’re seeing telcos wake up to the fact that they own valuable real estate – both physical data centers and fiber routes – that the AI giants desperately need. It’s a smart pivot, but the question is whether it’s happening fast enough.
What this means for businesses
For companies building AI applications, this is actually good news. More robust network connections between cloud providers and telcos means better performance and reliability for your AI workloads. We’re talking about everything from faster inference times to more stable training sessions.
But here’s the catch – will these improvements trickle down to actual cost savings for customers? Or will they just become another premium service tier? AWS and Verizon aren’t doing this out of charity – they see dollar signs in the AI gold rush. The real test will be whether enterprises actually see tangible benefits in their AI deployment costs and performance metrics.
Basically, we’re watching the infrastructure layer of AI mature right before our eyes. And honestly, it’s about time – the AI revolution can’t happen on shaky network foundations.
