Ciena Survey Predicts Surge in AI-Driven Data Center Demands

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2025 - Ciena, a global leader in networking systems, services, and software, recently conducted a global survey of 1,300 data center professionals, revealing significant shifts in the networking needs driven by the rapid growth of AI workloads. The survey, conducted across 13 countries, indicated that the demand for Data Center Interconnect bandwidth (the capacity for data transfer between two or more data centers) will increase by six times over the next five years.

The survey results showed:

• 43% of new data centers are expected to be dedicated to AI workloads, reflecting the growing importance of AI in data center planning;
• 87% of participants predicted the need for 800 Gb/s or more per wavelength to accommodate surging AI data traffic;
•  98% of data center experts believe pluggable optics are important for reducing power consumption and the physical footprint of their network infrastructure;
• 81% of respondents expected AI model training to become increasingly distributed across multiple data centers, necessitating interconnected DCI solutions; and
• 67% of participants said they plan to use Managed Optical Fiber Networks for long-haul connectivity, moving away from traditional dark fiber to meet future demands.

Ciena’s CTO, Jürgen Hatheier, stressed that AI’s impact goes beyond computing power, highlighting the need for robust, future-ready connectivity to unlock AI’s full potential.

"AI workloads are reshaping the entire data center landscape, from infrastructure builds to bandwidth demand," Hatheier said."Historically, network traffic has grown at a rate of 20-30% per year. AI is set to accelerate this growth significantly, meaning operators are rethinking their architectures and planning for how they can meet this demand sustainably.”

The survey concluded that operators must rethink their network architectures to ensure sustainability, meet high-bandwidth demands, and support distributed AI workloads effectively.