Verizon, the telecommunications giant, has set its sights on capitalizing on the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) market. In a recent earnings call, top executives revealed the company's plans to leverage its extensive infrastructure to provide computing resources for AI operations, positioning itself as a key player in the AI ecosystem.

Unlocking the Potential of AI at the Edge

Verizon's Latent Assets and the AI Opportunity

Verizon's Kyle Malady, head of the company's business division, highlighted the operator's vast infrastructure as a significant advantage in the AI landscape. "We're getting a lot of good orders from hyperscalers either on dark fiber or lit, and we're going to see that growing. But we have more than that, not just the fiber. It's the power, space and cooling, which you know is in really high demand. And we have a lot of latent assets in that area," Malady explained during the earnings call.Recognizing the immense potential of the AI market, Verizon is strategizing on how to best leverage its existing resources to capture a share of this lucrative opportunity. "It's a huge market. We can't cover it all, but there are certain segments we might be better off in than others," Malady added, hinting at a focused approach to target specific AI-driven use cases.

The Shift Towards Edge Computing for AI

Verizon's CEO, Hans Vestberg, also discussed the company's perspective on the evolving AI landscape. He noted that the current trend of large language models being hosted in big data centers may shift as the demand for AI-powered applications grows. "As soon as they're going to be an application that you're going to use as an enterprise, you're going to put it much closer for the main reason of the transport cost for privacy, for security, and in some cases, also latency," Vestberg said.This shift towards edge computing for AI-driven applications presents a significant opportunity for Verizon. By positioning its infrastructure closer to the end-users, the company can capitalize on the need for low-latency, secure, and cost-effective AI services.

Telecom Operators Embrace the AI Opportunity

Verizon is not alone in recognizing the potential of AI for telecom operators. Executives from other major players, such as T-Mobile and Vodafone, have also expressed their interest in leveraging their infrastructure to support the growing demand for AI computing resources.T-Mobile, for instance, has announced a partnership with Nvidia that could enable the operator to integrate Nvidia's GPUs into its network infrastructure. This move would allow T-Mobile to offer AI computing services to enterprises and other customers, further expanding the telecom industry's involvement in the AI ecosystem.

Revisiting the Telco Computing Model

The concept of telecom operators providing computing resources is not entirely new. In fact, Verizon and other telcos had previously exited this model when they sold their data center businesses to companies like Equinix roughly a decade ago. However, the rise of edge computing and the growing demand for AI-powered services have prompted a renewed interest in this space.Verizon and other operators have been making efforts to build edge computing networks, which would enable AI companies and other enterprises to run their computing operations closer to the end-users. While the adoption of edge computing services has been relatively slow, the increasing need for low-latency, high-performance AI applications could drive a significant shift in this landscape.

The Telco's Role in the AI Revolution

Verizon's incoming CTO, Santiago "Yago" Tenorio, highlighted the potential role of telecom operators in the AI revolution. "Are all the Gen AI applications going to run on data centers? If so, what are the latency requirements on the transport for the connectivity between where the application is running and where the GPUs are?" Tenorio questioned. "Or are the applications going to be more distributed, on the edge? Then, the telco will have another role to play."As the demand for AI-driven services grows, the need for low-latency, secure, and cost-effective computing resources will become increasingly critical. Verizon's extensive infrastructure and its strategic positioning at the edge of the network could position the company as a key player in the AI ecosystem, providing the necessary computing power and connectivity to support the next generation of AI-powered applications.