Data centers have become the focus of the telecommunications infrastructure economy – this field has expanded so rapidly that it reminds one of an unstable, rapidly expanding star that could engulf nearby planets.

Zayo Group is attempting to advance its infrastructure business and maintain stable operations as it approaches its 20th anniversary.

"We have been building for many years, so during this time we have gone through a lot of painful learning," said Troy Lupe, the Chief Technology Officer of Zayo, in an interview during a break at the SCTE TechExpo conference held in Atlanta earlier this month. "You must have a thorough project management plan, you must establish a large number of partnerships, and you must plan well in advance."

The company, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, signed two notable deals in August, but neither disclosed the financial terms: one was a collaboration with NVIDIA to support the construction of over 8,000 miles of fiber optic cable; the other was an agreement with Corning to secure a long-term supply of fiber optic cables.

When discussing the first transaction, Lupe said, "NVIDIA realized that their customers would need capacity. As we engaged in strategic cooperation around a broader ecosystem and how to put all this computing power to use, the conversation progressed quite quickly."

He described the agreement with Corning as one of several measures aimed at “reducing the risks across the entire supply chain” as demand for optical fibers picks up.

“Fibers optics have become cool again, did you know?” Lupe commented later. “It’s been a long time since fibers optics have become cool once more.”

The astonishing scale of capital expenditure in data centers – research institution Dell ‘Oro Group has tracked a 92% year-on-year increase in global spending in the second quarter, and predicts that global capital expenditure will exceed $3 trillion by 2030 – has also raised concerns about financial risks among many observers.

"We have several large institutional investors who are very concerned about such matters," said Lupe, and then added that Zayo is making efforts to stay grounded.

“We’re making some reasonable bets,” he said. “We ensure that the inflow and outflow of capital are synchronized; in the current ecosystem, we’re not taking on too much risk.”

The company expects that this wave of construction enthusiasm will not slow down in the short term.

Lupe said, "In the foreseeable future, we believe that we will continue to build and expand."

The craze for data centers has also raised concerns at the local level regarding the electricity and water consumption of these facilities – opposition has become so strong that Texas Governor Greg Abbott (Republican) has ordered a suspension of the approval process for new data centers.

"You will indeed see that some regions are already overburdened," Lupe admitted.

But he believes that this may change the location and speed at which data centers are developed, but it will not change the overall direction: "I don't think that will prevent it from happening."

Part of the Zayo strategy is to remind the outside world that its business is not limited to data center infrastructure, although it refuses to disclose how much of its Zayo revenue comes from data centers.

"From the perspective of digital infrastructure, the value we provide goes far beyond data centers," he said. "We offer support to communities along the way. We are building a more diverse network for the entire country."

Even though the opposition from data centers is not the only reason for the delay in approval, the delay in approval remains a concerning issue.

"The most critical bottleneck is obtaining the actual permission to start work," he said. "We must ensure that we proceed in a responsible manner and in collaboration with the city, county, state, as well as the road rights owners."

Accelerating the approval reform of telecommunications infrastructure construction has become a hot topic, but Lupe indicates that so far, Zayo has not seen much progress in these efforts.

AI has been driving the data center boom, but Zayo is also turning to use the AI model to help manage its expanding network. In September, the company announced the launch of a new set of agent monitoring tools, which includes what it calls "the industry's first production-grade model context protocol (MCP) server."

Lupe emphasizes that Zayo's vision for AI network management does not include replacing human judgment.

"We believe that decisions must still be made by humans," he said. "In the area of critical infrastructure, we know that we need to proceed with great caution."

On the contrary, he believes that the role of AI is to provide rapid analysis, problem assessment, and possible solutions, thereby reducing the need for people to be in a flurry in order to obtain data and understand its meaning.

Regarding another trend in the telecommunications industry that is increasingly being hyped and may threaten the business of its employers – space data centers – Lupe has a more restrained view. SpaceX is advancing this high-profile project, and Google as well as some startups focused on this concept have also shown interest in it.

"I see it as another part of the ecosystem," he said. "All of this needs to be transmitted down to the ground."

At the same time, Zayo still has a lot of work to do.

"I still have a lot of work to do in terms of construction," said Lupe. "For the United States and its position in global connectivity and computing power, this is an exciting time."

Editor's Note:The author of this article is a guest speaker at SCTE TechExpo; their accommodation expenses are covered by the conference organizers.