Prysmian wins €5.5bn Molex deal to supply AI data centre fibre
Milan-based Prysmian has secured a rare cash-backed contract to supply fibre for AI data centres, positioning a European manufacturer at the centre of a critical infrastructure bottleneck.
Prysmian has signed a 10-year, €5.5bn agreement with Koch-owned Molex to supply the optical cable that connects servers and switching gear inside artificial intelligence data centres. Unlike most supply commitments in the sector, which rely on demand forecasts, Molex is providing €550m upfront.
The deal highlights a physical constraint threatening the global AI buildout. As operators pack more accelerators into data halls, the internal cabling required to shuttle data between chips and racks has become a bottleneck, pushing companies like Nvidia to invest heavily in photonics to bypass the limits of copper.
Prysmian is targeting this density problem from the other end of the connection. The Milan-based group expects the Molex contract to serve as the foundation for up to €10bn in cumulative additional revenue from hyperscalers and data centre operators by 2035. That revenue could reach an annual run rate of €1.1bn from 2031, though these figures are ceilings rather than firm commitments.
To fulfil the contract and capture that broader demand, Prysmian will invest €1.25bn in capacity through 2031. The spending will more than double the company's optical fibre production in the United States, where data centre demand is most acute, and create over 1,000 jobs globally, including 600 in the US.
Crucially for Europe, the expansion is not limited to American soil. Prysmian is adding capacity on both sides of the Atlantic, supplying the physical infrastructure needed as the continent attempts to build its own sovereign AI computing base. Researchers have repeatedly warned that Europe's AI ambitions could fail if data centre supply chains cannot keep pace.
The company is positioning itself as a provider of the essential picks and shovels for the data centre boom. “This is a transformative moment for Prysmian’s Digital Solutions,” said chief executive Massimo Battaini. Molex chief executive Joe Nelligan framed the agreement as a reliability measure, stating: “We’re excited about this long-term agreement with Prysmian because it enables us to better support our mutual customers.”
