Equinix unveils distributed AI platform to speed enterprise adoption
Equinix has announced the launch of its Distributed AI infrastructure aimed at helping enterprises accelerate AI deployments with enhanced scalability, speed, and global connectivity.
The new Distributed AI platform is designed to support the growing need for moving from centralised AI models to agentic AI systems. These systems demand infrastructure that is capable of handling the scale and complexity of training, inferencing, and data sovereignty requirements while reducing latency and taking advantage of a distributed footprint worldwide.
Fabric Intelligence
One of the main elements of the new infrastructure is Fabric Intelligence, a software upgrade for Equinix Fabric, which is an on-demand global interconnection service. This enhancement introduces real-time automation and responsiveness for AI and multicloud workloads, allowing enterprises to reduce manual operations, speed up deployment processes, and adapt more quickly to changing AI demands. Fabric Intelligence is set to be accessible in the first quarter of 2026.
Fabric Intelligence works by integrating with AI orchestration tools to automate connectivity decisions, utilising live telemetry for deep observability, and automatically adjusting network routing and segmentation. This allows for optimisation of performance and a simplification of network operations to keep pace with the evolving requirements of AI workloads.
AI Solutions Lab
Equinix is also launching a global AI Solutions Lab that will operate across 20 locations in 10 countries. These labs offer enterprises the opportunity to work and innovate alongside AI partners in a risk-mitigated setting. The goal of the AI Solutions Lab is to accelerate AI adoption by providing a collaborative environment where companies can move from experimentation to operational deployment efficiently.
The AI Solutions Lab is operational immediately and allows enterprises direct access to the Equinix AI partner ecosystem, enabling the testing and development of AI solutions.
Expanded AI ecosystem
Equinix now has more than 2,000 AI partners worldwide, contributing to what the company describes as one of the most comprehensive vendor-neutral AI ecosystems in the market. This expansion is intended to give businesses access to next-generation AI inference platforms, including GroqCloud, through direct, private connectivity from the first quarter of 2026.
This infrastructure is expected to help enterprises implement use cases such as real-time decision-making for predictive maintenance in manufacturing, dynamic optimisation in retail, and faster fraud detection in financial services. By enabling AI at the edge and across regions, organisations can maintain compliance, scalability, and low-latency operations where they are most needed.
"This is the infrastructure AI has been waiting for. As AI becomes more distributed and dynamic, the real challenge is connecting it all-securely, efficiently and at scale. That's where Equinix comes in. Our global platform provides the boundless connectivity enterprises need to move data and inference closer to users, unlock new capabilities and accelerate innovation wherever opportunity exists," said Jon Lin, Chief Business Officer at Equinix.
From a technical standpoint, the Distributed AI platform is underpinned by a programmable, AI-optimised network that interlinks more than 270 data centres across 77 markets. Enterprises can therefore operate AI systems reliably and securely across multiple geographies.
Industry perspective
"Enterprises that fail to adopt a distributed AI strategy will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in an increasingly intelligent and automated world. Equinix's platform accelerates this shift by offering instant access to AI infrastructure, low-latency cloud connectivity, enhanced data privacy, and proximity to users-all within a rich, neutral partner ecosystem," said Dave McCarthy, Research Vice President, Cloud and Edge Services, Worldwide Infrastructure Research at IDC.
The announcement also drew comment from the enterprise technology sector.
"As AI shifts from centralized training to distributed inference, organizations need infrastructure that can support fast, dependable access to compute across regions. GroqCloud, together with Equinix's platform, enables businesses to run AI workloads closer to where data is generated-improving responsiveness and simplifying operations at scale," said Ian Andrews, Chief Revenue Officer at Groq.
Equinix's new products are scheduled for availability in the first quarter of 2026, offering potential benefits for a wide range of enterprise sectors interested in scaling their AI operations efficiently and securely.
