Prysmian and Molex Expand U.S. Fiber Manufacturing 

Molex and Prysmian have signed a long-term supply agreement aimed at expanding the availability of fiber-optic connectivity products for AI-driven data centers. Under the agreement, Prysmian will supply optical cable to Molex for up to 10 years, providing additional manufacturing capacity for hyperscale and enterprise customers building next-generation AI infrastructure. The companies said the partnership addresses rapidly increasing demand for high-density fiber connectivity inside modern data centers.

The agreement includes a major expansion of Prysmian’s U.S. manufacturing footprint. The company will extend production across multiple domestic facilities—including glass preform manufacturing—and expects to double its U.S. fiber production capacity. Prysmian said the investment will create more than 1,000 jobs worldwide, including approximately 600 manufacturing positions in the United States. The expanded production supports Molex’s broader strategy to increase domestic fiber cable supply while strengthening sourcing resilience for AI infrastructure deployments.Molex said the additional capacity will help customers secure long-term access to fiber cable assemblies used throughout AI clusters and hyperscale data centers.

The companies said the agreement is intended to improve supply-chain resilience, reduce lead-time uncertainty, and provide greater planning confidence for large-scale infrastructure projects. Molex contributes expertise in high-density optical interconnects and data center connectivity, while Prysmian provides large-scale fiber and optical cable manufacturing.

Joe Nelligan, CEO of Molex, said: “We’re excited about this long-term agreement with Prysmian because it enables us to better support our mutual customers. For Molex, this represents a strategic expansion in the U.S., bringing increased capacity to support the growing demand for data center solutions with the quality and reliability our customers expect.”

🌐 Analysis

The announcement underscores how the AI infrastructure buildout is shifting attention beyond GPUs, switches, and optics toward the physical fiber infrastructure required inside increasingly dense AI clusters. Modern AI data centers require dramatically higher fiber counts to support 400G, 800G, and emerging 1.6T optical links, making secure access to fiber cable production an increasingly strategic differentiator for suppliers serving hyperscale cloud providers.The agreement also reflects a broader industry trend toward domestic manufacturing and long-term supply commitments. As hyperscalers continue to announce multi-gigawatt AI campuses across North America, suppliers throughout the optical ecosystem—including fiber manufacturers, connector vendors, cable assembly providers, and transceiver companies—are investing aggressively to eliminate supply bottlenecks that could delay AI infrastructure deployments.