Jeff Johnston

AI demand is straining fiber and optical equipment supply chains, raising costs and risks for broadband operators and BEAD deployments.

Hyperscaler AI-related capital expenditures (capex) are accelerating rapidly, growing from an estimated $235 billion in 2024 to a projected $700+ billion in 2026.

Capital expenditures on AI are exploding, and they are creating real shareholder value. The artificial intelligence spending cycle is not over. In fact, it may be accelerating based on feedback from the AI infrastructure ecosystem.

CoBank experts Jeff Johnston and Teri Viswanath outline the details behind key issues they’re watching in 2026.

The capital rushing into the data center market to fuel the rise of artificial intelligence is nothing short of historic. Last year, the four hyperscalers—Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google—poured an estimated $235 billion into capital expenditures. This year, that figure is expected to exceed $400 billion.

Broadband M&A activity has accelerated in 2025, driven by lower interest rates, improved economic certainty and renewed strategic interest.

Despite rising fears, artificial intelligence is unlikely to spark a jobs apocalypse for recent college graduates.

Lower fertility rates, declining labor force participation, and lower net immigration are combining to squeeze labor supply. With the labor supply in rural America set to get tighter, technology – most obviously AI and robotics – will likely be at the core of any strategy to address the oncoming labor squeeze.

Bundling smartphone and home broadband services

CoBank’s Q1 2025 Quarterly report examines the economic forces shaping rural America, highlighting key shifts across agriculture, energy, communications, and financial markets as the year begins.

Mindful that many U.S. electric cooperatives have recently been approached to serve new data centers over the past six months

Data centers are the foundation of a digital economy but powering them is this decade’s challenge.