en.Wedoany.com Reported - US regional fiber operator Midco and data center giant Switch officially announced on May 18, 2026, the signing of a five-year, multi-state connectivity agreement to deploy over 500 individual 400Gbps circuits between Ellendale, North Dakota, and Chicago, Illinois, delivering a total transmission capacity of 200Tbps. This scale of deployment is rare in the regional backbone network sector, directly serving the interconnection needs of AI data centers and hyperscale customers in the Ellendale area, marking a new phase of high-density, high-bandwidth interconnection for AI infrastructure in the US Midwest.
The core data of the agreement outlines the engineering scale of this deployment. The 500 400G circuits are distributed across two geographically fully separated physical routes, providing end-to-end full path redundancy. Both routes operate simultaneously and serve as backups for each other; if one route is interrupted due to a fiber cut, equipment failure, or natural disaster, the other route can instantly take over all traffic. Midco President and COO Ben Dold stated bluntly in the announcement: "Midco is redefining the delivery capability of high-bandwidth fiber connectivity. This deal solidifies Midco's position as the nation's largest provider of 400G circuits, enabling hyperscale customers and data centers to scale with confidence." He also emphasized that the company stood out from the competition due to its "unmatched network customization capabilities, engineering response speed, and high-capacity transmission coverage."
The reason Switch chose Midco as a partner lies in the latter's execution capability within a complex supply chain environment. Scott Gutierrez, Senior Vice President of Connectivity at Switch, explained the choice: "Our customers have clear requirements for connectivity—scalable, resilient, future-proof, and delivered with precision and accountability. Midco demonstrated strong control over a complex equipment supply chain, utilizing a combination of its own infrastructure and strategic partnerships to deliver a large-scale, high-capacity solution." He further revealed that this network solution played a key role in the customer securing a multi-billion dollar contract, stating, "Without it, the customer could not have achieved this outcome." Midco's role in this was described as a "flexible and innovative partner," working closely with Switch to co-design and deploy the required infrastructure.
The technical foundation for this deployment is supported by Nokia's optical networking platform. Midco utilized Nokia fiber optic transmission equipment to achieve the high-capacity transport, with three core metrics reaching the current engineering forefront of long-haul optical transmission: single-wavelength 400Gbps, total capacity 200Tbps, and physical dual-route redundancy. Osvaldo Di Campli, Executive Vice President of Network Infrastructure Sales at Nokia, stated: "We are proud to support Midco in delivering a highly advanced 400G network. This project showcases how next-generation optical network innovation can unleash massive capacity to address the AI super-cycle while maintaining performance and scale resilience."
According to Jeff Sanders, Director of Wholesale at Midco, Midco's network covers the core areas of the Midwest, with its long-haul routes connecting enterprise customers to major access points such as Minneapolis, Omaha, Chicago, and Denver. The company's own fiber network spans a total of 21,000 miles, covering five states—Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin—serving 1.2 million homes and businesses across over 600 communities.
Switch has been deeply engaged in Ellendale for three years, accumulating experience in complex project management and supplier relationships. Switch's Gutierrez noted that Switch brings "proven expertise, supplier relationships, and an execution framework" from successfully managing complex projects for customers in Ellendale. The data center company serves a wide range of industry clients, including hyperscale AI and cloud service providers, healthcare, financial services and banking, government, and other enterprise sectors. The implementation of this connectivity agreement establishes a high-capacity, low-latency digital channel between the AI computing cluster in Ellendale and Chicago, the largest internet exchange hub in the Midwest, providing transmission assurance for scenarios such as AI training, inference, and cloud computing.
This collaboration has garnered significant attention at the state government level. North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong defined the partnership as a "powerful milestone" for the state's digital infrastructure future. He stated: "When a major data center operator chooses to scale with a provider like Midco, it sends a clear signal—North Dakota is rapidly becoming one of the most competitive regions in the nation for high-performance connectivity, cloud computing growth, and AI-driven industries." North Dakota Commerce Commissioner Chris Schilken added that this is precisely the "forward-looking infrastructure" the state needs, capable of sparking innovation, attracting world-class partners, and bringing long-term economic opportunities statewide.
Looking at the bigger picture of AI infrastructure layout in the Midwest, the construction of this optical network echoes the trend of AI computing clusters migrating from traditional coastal data center markets inland. The Midwest region possesses structural advantages in climate conditions, land availability, renewable energy access, and business environment, attracting increasing investment from hyperscale data centers. The backbone transmission channels connecting these inland computing clusters to core network hubs like Chicago are precisely the key bottleneck for regional digital infrastructure in the AI era. The five-year agreement signed by Midco and Switch not only locks in high-capacity transmission capability from Ellendale to Chicago but also, to a certain extent, shapes the geo-economic landscape of the AI industry in the Midwest.
Founded in 1931 and headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Midco is one of the largest regional telecommunications operators in the Midwest, with approximately 1,900 employees. Switch is a data center operator headquartered in Las Vegas, specializing in providing high-tier data center infrastructure for hyperscale customers. This five-year agreement locking in their collaboration reflects the trend in the AI infrastructure market where connectivity services are evolving from one-time project delivery to long-term strategic partnerships.
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