Telecom firms scale up investment in AI infrastructure to meet demand

Telecom operators worldwide are scaling capital investment in AI infrastructure, amid surging demand for AI compute capacity and sovereignty requirements that favour local providers and homegrown solutions.

According to a new report from Omdia titled Telcos’ Strategic Investments in AI Infrastructure, this shift is creating new growth avenues for telecommunications companies.

National and regional initiatives, such as the EU’s Gigafactories, are creating opportunities for telcos to lead large scale programs rather than cede them to hyperscalers.

AI infrastructure monetisation is starting to show for telcos.

For example, data centre revenue already accounted for 4 per cent of SKT’s revenue in the third quarter of 2025 and it plans to hit KRW1 trillion in revenue by 2030.

Ooredoo expects that digital infrastructure will contribute 12 per cent to the group’s revenue by 2030, up from 3 per cent in 2025.

Omdia’s analysis finds that telcos are scaling AI infrastructure through multi year capex commitments.

Operators across Asia, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East are heavily investing in cloud, data centres, GPU as a Service, and AI RAN.

There is no single model for AI infrastructure investment among telcos as approaches vary in structure, level of commitment, and risk.

Some telcos have established dedicated subsidiaries, such as STC’s Center3 and Iliad’s Scaleway, while others are pursuing joint ventures like SingTel.

For some groups, including SKT, Softbank, and Ooredoo, AI infrastructure investments form part of a broader strategic reorientation.

In certain cases, these investments reflect a structural rebalancing of capital, with reduced capex allocation to legacy connectivity.

“AI infrastructure has become a strategic bet for telcos,” Julia Schindler, Principal Analyst, Strategy, at Omdia said.

“The rapid growth of AI traffic, in combination with national sovereignty initiatives, creates a unique opportunity that more telcos will want to capture in the future,” she added.