Verizon Announces $1 Billion Dark Fiber Deal with Google, Calls It First of Many AI-Related Agreements

Verizon has unveiled a $1 billion dark fiber deal to connect Google data centers, part of a broader 'AI Connect' initiative announced during its Q2 2026 earnings call. The telecom giant is also repurposing old copper wiring from central offices to create small data centers optimized for AI inference workloads. CEO Dan Schulman indicated that additional deals worth multiple billions of dollars in revenue are expected by the end of the year as demand for data center connectivity and low-latency edge computing surges.