Verizon signs $1 billion（約1600億円） dark fiber deal with Google for AI data centers

Verizon Communications announced on Friday that it has signed a dark fiber agreement with Alphabet's Google worth more than $1 billion（約1600億円）. CEO Dan Schulman made the disclosure during Verizon's second-quarter earnings call. Dark fiber refers to unused fiber optic cables; under the agreement, Verizon will supply dark fiber infrastructure to connect Google's data centers.

Schulman positioned the deal as the opening move in a broader Verizon strategy to capture revenue from AI infrastructure connectivity. He stated: "The build out of AI infrastructure across the United States is one of the largest capital cycles of our lifetime, and Verizon is uniquely positioned to participate in it." He noted that Verizon's long-haul and metro fiber assets—a network originally constructed for a different technological era—now align precisely with what is required to link AI data centers, compute clusters, and geographic regions. Schulman used the word "consequential" to describe the announcement and offered it as a preview of where Verizon's revenue trajectory is headed.

Verizon expects to announce additional agreements by year-end that would generate multiple billions of dollars in revenue over the next several years. Schulman characterized these future contracts as stable, extended-term arrangements with some of the most technically rigorous customers in the infrastructure space. The market responded positively to the news: Verizon stock rose more than 3% during Friday's opening trade, while Alphabet Class A shares moved up about 1%.

Verizon's $1 billion（約1600億円） dark fiber agreement with Google represents a strategic pivot by the telecom carrier into infrastructure connectivity for artificial intelligence—a market segment the company frames as one of the largest capital cycles of the current era. Schulman's comment that the network was "originally built for a different technological era" underscores a broader corporate strategy: monetizing legacy assets by repurposing them for emerging demand. The CEO explicitly positioned this Google contract as the first of what he expects to be multiple major agreements by year-end, each with hyperscalers (large cloud and AI infrastructure operators), suggesting Verizon has identified a material revenue stream in supporting the geographic and computational buildout that AI companies require.

The stock market's immediate reaction—Verizon up more than 3% on Friday's open, Alphabet up about 1%—reflects investor recognition that the deal addresses genuine infrastructure bottlenecks in the AI sector. By securing long-term, extended contracts with technically demanding customers, Verizon is locking in stable revenue flows while Google and other hyperscalers gain access to proven fiber infrastructure at scale. The framing of these deals as "consequential" and part of a "broader push" signals that Verizon intends AI infrastructure connectivity to become a material pillar of its future revenue, not a one-off transaction.

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