May 19, 2026
Midco has been awarded a five-year, multi-state contract to support AI infrastructure from North Dakota.
This is part of our partnership with Switch, an AI, cloud, and enterprise data center provider serving hyperscale AI and cloud providers, healthcare, financial services, banking, government, and other enterprise sectors.
The initial work will support the operation of an AI data center in Ellendale, North Dakota.
“This connectivity agreement strengthens Midco’s position as the nation’s largest 400G line provider and enables hyperscalers and data centers to grow with confidence,” Ben Dold, Midco’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
“With unparalleled network customization, engineering responsiveness, and high-capacity transport reach, Midco is redefining what high-bandwidth fiber connectivity can deliver.”
The contract includes more than 500 separate 400 Gigabit/second lines delivered across two different geographic routes, providing full path redundancy between Ellendale and Chicago, including northbound Sioux Falls, Brandon and eastbound. In total, the network will deliver 200 terabits of capacity.
“Switch selected Midco for its ability to design creative and resilient network designs that meet customers’ demanding diversity and performance requirements while meeting schedules in highly constrained supply environments,” said Scott Gutierrez, Switch’s senior vice president of connectivity.
“Midco has demonstrated strong control over complex equipment supply chains and leveraged a combination of proprietary infrastructure and strategic partnerships to deliver a large-scale, high-capacity solution. Their flexibility, execution discipline, and willingness to think beyond traditional design made them the perfect partner for this important deployment.”
To support the scale and performance of the deployment, Midco leverages Nokia’s optical networking solutions to provide high-capacity transport with increased efficiency and reliability across the network.
“The common requirements of our customers are clear: scalable, resilient and future-proof connectivity delivered with precision and responsibility,” Gutierrez added.
“Switch has successfully managed complex initiatives for Ellendale customers over the past three years, bringing the proven expertise, vendor relationships and execution framework needed to deliver a successful strategy. This network solution with Nokia was critical, without which the customer would not have won a multi-billion dollar contract. We worked closely with them to design and deploy the necessary infrastructure to meet this moment.”
Jeff Saunders, director of wholesale for Midco, added that the partnership “proves the Midwest is open for business.”
“This shows that our region, with its favorable climate, abundant natural resources, renewable energy, and strong business environment, continues to be the location of choice for data centers and hyperscalers. Our network covers the heart of the region, and our long-haul routes connect enterprise customers to major point-of-presence sites such as Minneapolis, Omaha, Chicago, and Denver, enabling them to transmit large amounts of voice, video, and data at reliable 400G speeds.”
