The US states of Oregon, California and Nevada are home to key players in the artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud ecosystem, all of whom totally rely on low latency and high fibre count to conduct operations. To support their needs, Zayo has completed the build of a long-haul fibre route along a 622-mile corridor spanning the cities of Umatilla, Prineville and Reno (UPR).
The comms infrastructure provider believes the future of AI will be built as much in the ground as it is in the labs and datacentres, and considers its new route as establishing a backbone for how the western US connects, drives and scales AI data, compute and cloud environments.
“While others plan, we’re building the infrastructure that makes AI possible,” said Bill Long, chief product and strategy officer at Zayo. “Without connectivity, datacentres and AI factories are just expensive refrigerators: cold boxes of compute with no way for data to get in or out. We’re delivering the capacity and reach where it’s needed to ensure AI can work, scale and innovate without limits.”
Built with SMF-28 fibre, multiple conduits and 13 Zayo-owned ILAs, the route is engineered for low latency and high fibre count to support the increasing vast workloads of AI and cloud. With its completion, the UPR route integrates into Zayo’s existing West Coast long-haul and subsea network systems, extending connectivity across the western US and strengthening the backbone supporting the region’s growing AI corridor.
In addition, the UPR route connects the West’s emerging AI ecosystems through Zayo’s existing dark fibre networks, which are claimed to be capable of delivering the speed, reliability and scale that AI loads and services demand.
The UPR route is also part of Zayo’s strategy to expand the critical infrastructure powering AI growth across the US. Purpose-built for AI and cloud workloads, the fully owned and operated route connects two of the region’s fastest-growing AI and cloud hubs, through the first direct inland path. It provides a resilient, diverse alternative to the I-5 corridor and is also said to be capable of extending carrier-grade access to unserved and underserved communities across Oregon, California and Nevada.
Zayo’s route is funded in part by the NTIA Middle Mile Grant Program that backs the expansion and extension of middle mile infrastructure across US states and territories with the ultimate purpose of strengthening US high-speed internet networks by reducing the cost of connecting areas that are unserved or underserved to the internet backbone. In total, the programme allocated $980m to fund projects for the construction, improvement or acquisition of middle mile infrastructure covering more than 370 counties across 40 states and Puerto Rico.
Zayo boasts more than 19.5 million fibre miles and 1,700 on-net datacentres already in operation. The UPR route is also part of Zayo’s plan to advance a long-term investment to close infrastructure gaps and expand digital access across the US.
Earlier in 2025, Zayo announced plans to build 5,000 new long-haul route miles by 2030 to proactively address bandwidth bottlenecks, an initiative that it said builds on the same vision of expanding connectivity.
The company concluded that together, these efforts reinforce its role as the network builder connecting where AI actually happens, being a trusted partner for hyperscalers, neoclouds and datacentres powering the world’s most advanced digital ecosystems.
