Summary
- The agreement is worth up to €5.5 billion and includes a €550 million upfront payment.
- Prysmian will invest €1.25 billion through 2031 in fibre and optical cable capacity across the US and Europe.
- AI clusters are pushing long term procurement deeper into data halls as fibre density, lead times, and manufacturing capacity become delivery constraints.
Prysmian has signed an agreement worth up to €5.5 billion to supply optical cable to Molex for use inside data centres, securing a commercial relationship that could run for ten years.
The agreement includes a €550 million upfront payment and will support an expansion of fibre and optical cable manufacturing in the US and Europe. Molex will use the additional supply to produce connectivity systems for hyperscale and AI infrastructure customers.
Prysmian plans to invest €1.25 billion through 2031, extending production from the glass preform stage through to finished optical cable. The company expects the programme to create more than 1,000 jobs worldwide, including about 600 in US manufacturing, while maintaining a larger European production base.
Although the largest capacity increase will take place in the US, the agreement has direct relevance to European development. Large American build programmes compete for many of the same raw materials, manufacturing lines, and specialist components required by campuses in London, Frankfurt, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, and the Nordic markets.
Optical demand moves inside the building
Prysmian is extending beyond long distance telecoms and campus links into the internal data centre network, where fibre connects accelerators, servers, storage, switching equipment, and interbuilding infrastructure. The number of connections can rise faster than the rack count as AI clusters grow, particularly where thousands of processors must exchange data at high speed and low latency.
That density places pressure on more than the fibre manufacturer. Cable pathways, overhead containment, patching fields, connector assembly, fire compartmentation, bend radius, and access for maintenance all have to accommodate larger optical volumes without obstructing airflow, cooling pipework, or electrical distribution.
A small component shortage can delay a large amount of installed compute. Accelerators may already be delivered, electrical capacity may be energised, and cooling systems may be commissioned, yet the cluster cannot enter service until its network is connected, tested, and accepted.
Molex gains greater visibility over cable availability and lead times, while Prysmian receives enough commercial certainty to fund production assets that cannot be added quickly. Fibre manufacturing begins with capital intensive preform and drawing operations, followed by cabling, coating, testing, and qualification.
Joe Nelligan, chief executive of Molex, said the agreement would bring increased capacity to support growing demand while maintaining the quality and reliability expected by customers. The arrangement also diversifies Molex’s sourcing as it expands its data centre connectivity operations.
Prysmian expects its wider agreements and commercial initiatives with hyperscalers and infrastructure providers to generate more than €10 billion in additional cumulative revenue by 2035 against its 2025 baseline. Annual revenue from those activities could reach €1.1 billion from 2031, according to the company.
Capacity reservations spread across the bill of materials
Long term supply agreements have already become common for transformers, switchgear, generators, chillers, and other equipment affected by long manufacturing queues. Applying a similar structure to fibre shows how procurement pressure is extending into components that previously attracted less attention in high level capacity plans.
The upfront payment reduces part of Prysmian’s investment exposure and aligns new production with a committed customer. Molex, in return, gains access to capacity before the manufacturing expansion is complete, rather than relying solely on future spot availability.
Such arrangements can improve continuity, although they can also lock both parties into assumptions about architecture, volumes, and technology change. Optical specifications will continue to develop as transceiver speeds rise, link distances change, and network designers seek lower power use and simpler maintenance.
Internal fibre also affects construction sequencing. Containment and routes have to be reserved before ceilings and service corridors become congested, while installation and testing must be coordinated with racks, network equipment, controls, and customer handover dates.
Higher fibre density can reduce the physical bulk associated with equivalent copper links, but poor organisation quickly erodes that advantage. Congested patching fields, undocumented routes, and inaccessible connectors create operational risk long after the initial build is complete.
Prysmian’s investment links those facility details to manufacturing decisions years before many of the eventual campuses are commissioned. AI infrastructure may be ordered in processors and megawatts, but the completed cluster depends on a disciplined chain of glass, cable, connectors, pathways, and installation labour.
The ten year horizon provides a measure of how sustained the two companies expect that demand to be. It also transfers part of the data centre expansion cycle into factories whose output must be planned, financed, staffed, and qualified well before the final customer requires delivery.
