DE-CIX Launches AI-Ready Internet Exchange for Global AI Workloads

DE-CIX, one of the world’s most prominent Internet Exchange operators, has announced that its global ecosystem of exchanges is now “AI-ready” with the completion of the first phase of its AI Internet Exchange initiative, branded AI-IX. The project marks a strategic step for the Frankfurt-headquartered company as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates and enterprises seek infrastructure designed to support real-time inference and, soon, distributed training.

Phase one of the rollout establishes DE-CIX as a platform capable of handling the requirements of modern AI workloads. More than 50 AI-relevant networks are already connected, ranging from inference-as-a-service and GPU-as-a-service providers to a wide selection of cloud services.

With over 160 global cloud on-ramps and the introduction of a proprietary multi-AI routing technology, the operator is offering enterprises access to low-latency, high-security interconnection designed for AI-powered applications. This service is available not only in Frankfurt, Europe’s largest Internet Exchange, but across all DE-CIX locations worldwide.

The timing of this move aligns with an expected explosion of AI agents in the coming years, many of them multimodal and embedded into devices, platforms, and industrial processes.

Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX, described this shift as creating the need for what he calls the “Digital Triangle of AI Inference Interconnection.” The triangle consists of the proliferation of AI agents, the AI-powered devices and applications they interact with – from autonomous vehicles to robotic systems – and the modern transmission technologies that carry the traffic, such as fiber, 5G Advanced, and low-Earth orbit satellite networks. Ivanov stressed that unless these three elements are tied together with resilient and secure direct interconnection, enterprises will struggle to unlock the real-time advantages that AI promises.

AI inference – the deployment of trained models to provide live responses, insights, or automation – requires connectivity with near-zero latency and maximum resilience. DE-CIX argues that its AI-IX platform, powered by its specialized AI router, can meet these requirements by allowing seamless communication among multiple AI agents. This, the company says, will support today’s complex use cases and pave the way for the next wave of AI innovation across industries.

Ultra Ethernet-Ready

The second phase of the AI-IX rollout will shift the focus from inference to training. DE-CIX plans to make its exchanges Ultra Ethernet-ready, a move that could reshape how AI models are trained. Ultra Ethernet is an emerging protocol designed to deliver performance levels suitable for large-scale AI workloads while overcoming the cost and centralization constraints of traditional InfiniBand-based architectures.

According to DE-CIX CTO Thomas King, Ultra Ethernet makes geographically distributed AI training feasible, meaning that training tasks can be spread across multiple facilities within a metropolitan area rather than confined to massive centralized clusters. This disaggregated model could reduce costs, improve resilience, and offer enterprises more flexibility in building private AI infrastructure. DE-CIX notes that its hardware is already prepared to support the enhanced Ethernet standard once vendors make the necessary software features available.

For businesses monitoring developments in digital infrastructure, the introduction of Ultra Ethernet into exchange-level connectivity could prove pivotal. Centralized hyperscale training centers have long dominated the landscape, but with AI models becoming larger and more resource-intensive, distributing workloads across multiple facilities is gaining traction as a cost-effective and resilient alternative. By positioning itself early, DE-CIX aims to be the first operator offering an AI-IX capable of supporting both inference and training at scale.

This announcement comes as DE-CIX approaches its 30th anniversary in 2025. Founded in 1995 with its first exchange in Frankfurt, the company has expanded to 60 locations worldwide, including Europe, Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. Its services range from peering and cloud connectivity to interconnection designed for enterprises and now AI workloads. Today, DE-CIX interconnects over 4,000 networks from more than 100 countries, accessible through data centers in more than 600 cities. Its flagship Frankfurt exchange is among the largest globally, with nearly 1,100 connected networks and a data volume nearing 45 exabytes annually.