As business demand for AI acceleration and multi-cloud scale reaches all-time highs, Lumen is strategically expanding.
This plan is to enable Lumen to deliver fast, secure, cost-efficient infrastructure with up to 400Gbps Ethernet and IP Services at more than 70 third-party, cloud on-ramp ready data centres across 16 highly connected metro markets.
“This investment isn’t just about faster data centre connectivity – it’s about creating the digital foundation for an AI-first economy,” said Ashley Haynes-Gaspar, Lumen’s chief revenue officer.
“We’re giving customers what they need most: performance, flexibility and speed at scale – whether they’re turning up a single connection or orchestrating thousands of AI workloads across metro markets.”
With such an expansive fibre network from Lumen, customers should be able to quickly turn up services as needed, provisioning bandwidth in minutes and only paying for what they use. Lumen says this should make it easier to connect to data centres and cloud on-ramps, scale enterprise applications and respond to fluctuating AI and data-intensive demands, all while managing costs.
Given that Lumen owns and operates the underlying network, customers will benefit from greater control, reliability and performance.
“Lumen’s network investment in bringing high-speed connectivity to key data centres is a strategic move to meet the growing demand for more capacity and reach across data centres, anticipating customer needs amid the AI boom where network is emerging as an indispensable resource,” said Ghassan Abdo, vice president of research, worldwide telecommunications at IDC.
“This expansion supports AI-first planning and multi-cloud architectures, ensuring a high-performance environment for business applications, which are the lifeblood of digital enterprises.”
High-speed data centre connectivity up to 400Gbps is now available in: Northern Virginia, Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Phoenix, Portland,San Antonio (Q4 2025), San Jose and Seattle.
Lumen solutions available at these data centres are able to support speeds up to 400Gbps, which are built to meet the demands of AI, cloud and next-generation enterprise workloads.
Customers are able to access the following services:
- Ethernet On-Demand – flexible, high-speed connectivity activated in real-time
- Internet On-Demand – scalable internet access, when and where it’s needed
- E-Line – point-to-point Ethernet for secure, predictable data transport
- E-LAN – multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet for seamless site interconnectivity
- E-Access – simplified access to broader Ethernet networks for enterprise reach
“This expansion is just the beginning,” says Haynes-Gaspar. “As enterprises race to harness the power of AI, Lumen is building the network foundation they need to move faster, scale smarter and stay ahead.
Currently, Lumen operates one of the most widely interconnected networks in the US, with its network designed to deliver <5 milliseconds of latency at the edge to meet 97% of US enterprise demand. It also offers network agility by enabling connectivity to all major cloud providers and more than 2,000 third-party data centres.
Looking ahead, Lumen is continuing to invest in the company’s network, expanding its footprint with a goal to reach 47 million intercity fibre miles by the end of 2028. It hopes that by doing this – and focusing on targeted infrastructure upgrades and investments that support high-growth markets – it is building a foundation to deliver modern and flexible digital infrastructure and the connectivity that modern businesses urgently need.
Haynes-Gaspar added: “We’re not just keeping up with digital transformation, we’re helping our customers lead it.”
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