Lightpath will construct 130-route miles of AI-grade fiber infrastructure in Eastern Pennsylvania to connect the rapidly developing hyperscale data center ecosystem in the region. The Susquehanna region in Eastern Pennsylvania has seen a proliferation of AI-scale data center project announcements recently due to the region’s unique power infrastructure.
Lightpath was selected to construct and operate 130-route miles of underground, multi-conduit systems with ultrahigh fiber-count capacity. The first phase of this network will diversely connect numerous data center campuses in the Susquehanna region. Planned future phases will expand the network to more than 400-route miles in total, to keep pace with data center development.
The new network, when combined with Lightpath’s existing fiber footprint, will enable ultrahigh bandwidth connectivity between the new hyperscale AI data center facilities in Eastern Pennsylvania with Ashburn, Virginia, the largest data center and cloud ecosystem in the world. It will also connect Eastern Pennsylvania to New York City and New Jersey, the largest population centers in the country. Completion is scheduled for mid-2026.
Lightpath will be offering a full range of AI-grade network infrastructure and connectivity services on the Pennsylvania fiber assets, including high-count dark fiber, conduit, wavelengths up to 800 Gbps, Ethernet and Internet services. In addition to hyperscalers, the network will be available to support the connectivity requirements of enterprises, educators, governments, carriers, and wireless providers.
“The Susquehanna region in Pennsylvania represents a massive opportunity for AI digital infrastructure given the unique power capacity and data center plans announced for the area,” stated Chris Morley, CEO of Lightpath. “Additionally, the area’s proximity to the densely populated Northeast will provide our customers with high-scale connectivity options for latency-sensitive AI workloads that would not be possible from data centers in other parts of the country. This investment underscores our ongoing commitment to enable all customers, including the largest digital infrastructure platforms, to modernize and scale their networks for every type of AI workload.”
Pennsylvania is Lightpath’s Third New AI Infrastructure Region Announced in 2025
Eastern Pennsylvania represents Lightpath’s third new regional network built to AI-specifications announced this year following the company’s entrances into the Phoenix market in February and the Columbus market in April. All of Lightpath’s AI-grade digital infrastructure is engineered to handle massive fiber capacity, meeting the unprecedented compute demands of AI.
“The Eastern Pennsylvania data center ecosystem is rapidly growing, and much like Lightpath’s other AI-grade projects, we are aggressively pursuing these opportunities to support our growing portfolio of hyperscale and strategic partners,” explained Tim Haverkate, EVP of Major Infrastructure Solutions, Lightpath. “This third project announcement of 2025 is continuing evidence of the trust Lightpath has earned through our tailored approach in connecting these large-scale AI infrastructure markets. Our partners select Lightpath for our proven fiber construction capabilities, commercial flexibility, the agility in which we operate, and having the financial capacity to take on projects of this scale.”
