AT&T CEO: Upstream data demand has DOUBLED

Big lead, and we see that kind of regulation. They are focused not on the theoretical but on the physical infrastructure of AI. AT&T and the glass optical fiber giant Corning announced a multi-year deal worth $3 billion. It is part of AT&T's quarter-trillion-dollar, five-year commitment to build out its fiber network to 60 million locations by the end of 2030. Because as AI devours more data, all that information has got to move. Chips may get the attention, but fiber is the physical backbone and the plumbing that carries the AI boom. I spoke to the chiefs at the home of AT&T and Corning about the millions on a fiber, whether supply can keep up with the AI explosion at a future where your smartphone may not be the device you rely on most.

Joining me now from the floor of the world's largest fiber optic manufacturing plant, which of course belongs to Corning, Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks. You look very comfortable. What kind of data demand are you seeing that has you striking this deal?

Ever-increasing data demand. It is in the upstream. It is why we are making such a huge commitment to fiber, the best technology out there that is symmetrical, sends as much data up as down, which was the unit compared to a lot of American broadband networks. And that is a bet for the future and a bet for being able to meet the needs of AI moving forward.

You've made a huge commitment. This purchase agreement sits inside your $250 billion, five-year commitment to build out the fiber network, which you hope will stretch to 60 million total fiber locations. How much closer will this purchase get you to that goal?

That has to make you feel happy at the moment. Can I ask you... And here is the process of making optical fiber out of glass.

What we do, we take gases, the process we invented, the purest materials. If the Indian Ocean was made of the material John uses, you could stand on the surface and see to the bottom of the Java Trench, which is around 7 km down. And the thickness of a human hair. It is so smooth, the entire world was as smooth as the fiber John uses, there wouldn't be a mountain taller than a double-decker bus. We come into this room where we are measuring every single centimeter of fiber so John knows what he's doing. He builds all the data into his network so he knows exactly when it was made and what the product is, and he's able to deliver that to his customers.

Testing the smoothness of the globe, this gives a good visualization. But this $3 billion purchase, what will it enable you to do? How much bigger could it get?

That is one of the reasons John is here. This is the largest fiber-optic manufacturing plant in the world and the lowest cost in the world, here in North Carolina. What John is here to do is meet the 4,000 or so people that are trying to make the best buy for him every day. We are in the midst of expanding that. In North Carolina, we've got 5,000 employees and expect that to grow dramatically over the coming years.

Define dramatically.

Foundation.

John and I have been married for a long time.

Wendell, when you look at this demand, it's by the AI buildout, your order backlog is stretching out. Can you give us an idea how far that order backlog goes? Verizon wants your fiber, everybody wants your fiber, especially everybody in the data center business?

It is one of the things John and I wanted to make sure we could do. If we look forward to the commitments from our customers, we would have really good line of sight and committed demand that goes multiple years. We wanted to make sure our long-standing innovation partners and people who built this technology originally had the runway they needed to put in the technology they needed to serve their customers and win.