The US states of Oregon, California, and Nevada are home to major companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud ecosystem, all of which rely entirely on low latency and high amounts of fiber to operate. To support their needs, Zayo has completed construction of a long-distance fiber route along a 622-mile corridor spanning the cities of Umatilla, Prineville, and Reno (UPR).
The communications infrastructure provider believes the future of AI will be built on the ground, not just in labs and data centers, and that its new route is establishing the backbone of how the Western United States connects, powers, and scales AI data, computing, and cloud environments.
“While other companies are making plans, we are building the infrastructure to enable AI,” said Bill Long, chief product strategy officer at Zayo. “Without connectivity, data centers and AI factories become just expensive refrigerators, cold boxes of computing that no data can move in or out of. We’re providing the capacity and reach that AI needs to function, scale, and innovate without limits.”
The route is built with SMF-28 fiber, multiple conduits, and 13 Zayo-owned ILAs, and is designed to deliver low latency and high fiber counts to support growing and massive AI and cloud workloads. Upon completion, the UPR route will be integrated into Zayo’s existing West Coast long-haul and subsea network systems, extending connectivity across the western United States and strengthening the backbone to support the region’s growing AI corridor.
Additionally, the UPR route connects the emerging AI ecosystem in the West via Zayo’s existing dark fiber network, which is claimed to be able to provide the speed, reliability, and scale that AI loads and services demand.
The UPR route is also part of Zayo’s strategy to expand critical infrastructure that fuels AI growth across the United States. Built specifically for AI and cloud workloads, the route is fully owned and operated and connects two of the region’s fastest growing AI and cloud hubs through the first direct inland path. It is said to provide a resilient and versatile alternative to the I-5 corridor and also expand 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, which supports the expansion of middle mile infrastructure across U.S. states and territories, with the ultimate goal of strengthening America’s high-speed Internet networks by reducing the cost of connecting unserved or underserved areas to the Internet backbone. In total, the program allocated $980 million in funding to projects to construct, improve, or acquire infrastructure in the Middle Mile, covering more than 370 counties in 40 states and Puerto Rico.
Zayo boasts over 19.5 million fiber miles and 1,700 on-net data centers already in operation. The UPR route is also part of Zayo’s plan to advance long-term investments to close infrastructure gaps and expand digital access across the United States.
In early 2025, Zayo announced plans to build 5,000 new long-haul miles by 2030 to proactively address bandwidth bottlenecks, and the company said this effort is based on the same vision of expanding connectivity.
The company concluded that these efforts strengthen its role as a network builder that connects the places where AI is happening, making it a trusted partner for hyperscalers, neoclouds, and data centers that power the world’s most advanced digital ecosystems.
