• Equinix and Zayo unveil AI Infrastructure Blueprint
• China dominates robot deployments
• Telecom Italia gets energetic 

In today’s industry news roundup: Zayo and Equinix have teamed up to create a blueprint that “defines how next-generation infrastructure powers AI workloads”; the majority of the world’s new industrial robotics deployments are in China; Telecom Italia branches into the retail gas and electricity sector; and more!

Long-distance network operator Zayo has teamed up with datacentre operator Equinix to produce what they call “the industry’s first AI Infrastructure Blueprint, a joint infrastructure architecture framework that defines how next-generation infrastructure powers AI workloads”. The blueprint aims to provide a “framework that clarifies the roles of high-capacity networks, interconnection hubs, training and inference datacentres, and provides a clear model for connecting them,” the partners noted. “AI at scale spans training locations, distributed inference, and network and interconnection nodes that link them. The AI Infrastructure Blueprint provides a clear infrastructure architecture framework for how these pieces fit together: Equinix as the neutral interconnection hubs for connecting networks, training and inference infrastructure; and Zayo as the high-capacity fibre and network services, linking hubs, data sources and workloads,” they added. Bill Long, chief product and strategy officer at Zayo, stated: “AI is transforming the digital infrastructure landscape, but there’s been no playbook for connecting training, inference and enterprise infrastructure. Together with Equinix, we’re introducing a network standard and datacentre best practices that makes AI communication infrastructure scalable, extensible and ready for what comes next.” Zayo is one of an increasing number of companies to identify datacentre interconnect (DCI) services as a significant growth opportunity as tens of billions of dollars are piled into new AI infrastructure facilities. Another company seeking to capitalise on that business opportunity in North America is Lumen Technologies, which has just provided an update on its multibillion-dollar US network expansion that’s part of its multi-year effort to build the backbone for the AI economy – see Lumen accelerates multibillion-dollar network expansion to meet soaring AI demand.

The timing of the Zayo/Equinix announcement coincided with datacentre firm’s inaugural AI Summit, where Equinix also unveiled its distributed AI infrastructure, which “includes a new AI-ready backbone to support distributed AI deployments, a global AI Solutions Lab to test new solutions, and Fabric Intelligence to better support next-generation workloads for enterprises”. For more details, see this Equinix announcement. 

The latest world robotics statistics unveiled by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) show that 542,000 industrial robots were installed globally in 2024, with Asia accounting for 74%, Europe just 16% and the Americas just 9%. China alone accounted for 295,000 deployments last year, 54% of the global total, while in the US robot installations were down by 9% year on year to 34,200 units, according to the IFR, which noted that the US “imports most of its robots from Japan and Europe, with few domestic suppliers”. The IFR expects annual industrial robot installations to grow by 6% to 575,000 this year and for the total number to exceed 700,000 in 2028. “The transition of many industries into the digital and automated age has been marked by a huge surge in demand” for robotics, stated IFR president Takayuki Ito. “The total number of industrial robots in operational use worldwide was 4,664,000 units in 2024, an increase of 9% compared to the previous year,” he added. All of this is interesting in itself, of course, but what’s even more interesting is the connectivity that such industrial robots require, and it’s notable that China is also regarded as the most mature private 5G national market “thanks to state-funded directives aimed at accelerating the adoption of 5G connectivity in industrial settings, such as factories, warehouses, mines, power plants, substations, oil and gas facilities, and ports,” according to a recent report published by SNS Telecom & IT. 

Telecom Italia (TIM) has teamed up with Poste Italiane, which was recently granted regulatory approval to acquire a 15% stake in the national telco, to enter the retail energy market. From Monday 29 September, and with the support of Poste Italiane, TIM Energia Luce e Gas will be selling electricity and gas alongside connectivity and streaming services in more 750 TIM stores across Italy. “With TIM Energia powered by Poste Italiane, we are providing households with an essential service that is easy to understand and manage, adding a new element to our Customer Platform strategy. We want to provide cost stability, clear options and a focus on sustainability, building on customers’ trust in us,” stated Andrea Rossini, head of Telecom Italia’s Consumer, Small and Medium and Mobile Wholesale Market operations. “We are committed to providing an integrated response to all customer needs through a quality offering that spans entertainment to advanced connectivity services, artificial Intelligence, the cloud, cybersecurity and financial and insurance solutions.” Special promotions are planned for the launch of the services – see this TIM announcement for further details. 

Verizon has announced it will be the first mobile operator to resell the new Meta Ray-Ban Display AI glasses that were recently unveiled at Meta’s annual Connect conference. “This partnership will bring the next generation of wearable AI technology to Verizon customers, offering a seamless experience on the glasses,” stated the US operator in this announcement.  

According to new data from industry group 5G Americas and research firm Omdia, global 5G connections exceeded 2.6 billion at the end of June (up by 37% year on year) and are projected to reach nearly 9 billion by 2030, when 5G is set to represent 60% of all wireless connections worldwide. For more information, see this press release. 

Intel’s ongoing rebuilding plans are back in the headlines following reports that the chip giant approached Apple to discuss a potential equity investment and partnership, according to Bloomberg (as reported by Reuters). The speculation comes only days after Nvidia announced it was investing $5bn in Intel (for a roughly 4% stake) and in the wake of equity investments in the chip firm by SoftBank and the US government.

– The staff, TelecomTV