Equinix launches Fabric Intelligence and AI Solutions Lab for enterprise workloads

At its first AI Summit, Equinix unveiled a distributed AI infrastructure designed to meet the needs of businesses adopting advanced AI systems. The company outlined a new network backbone, Fabric Intelligence software, and a global AI Solutions Lab as part of its strategy to help enterprises handle workloads that extend across multiple regions and cloud platforms.

A network designed for AI workloads

Equinix said its distributed AI model addresses the different infrastructure requirements of training, inference, and data sovereignty. Unlike traditional applications, AI workloads often span across geographies and require low-latency access to compute resources.

The company pointed to its 270 data centres across 77 markets as the foundation of this approach, providing a programmable, AI-optimised network to link environments worldwide.

Jon Lin, Chief Business Officer at Equinix, said the challenge lies in connecting distributed AI securely and at scale. “Our global platform provides the connectivity enterprises need to move data and inference closer to users and accelerate deployment wherever opportunity exists,” he said.

Fabric Intelligence to support automation

One of the main announcements was Fabric Intelligence, a software layer built on Equinix Fabric, its global interconnection service. Fabric Intelligence is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2026.

The software integrates with AI orchestration tools and uses real-time telemetry to adjust routing and network segmentation automatically. Equinix said this approach can reduce manual intervention and speed up the deployment of AI workloads.

Global AI Solutions Lab

Equinix also introduced the AI Solutions Lab, available immediately across 20 facilities in 10 countries. The lab provides enterprises with access to Equinix’s partner ecosystem, enabling them to test AI solutions and collaborate with technology providers.

By offering a controlled environment, the lab is expected to help businesses reduce risks tied to AI adoption and shorten the time from concept to deployment.

Expanding the AI partner ecosystem

Equinix reported that its AI ecosystem now includes more than 2,000 partners. From the first quarter of 2026, enterprises will also gain access to GroqCloud through Fabric Intelligence, offering direct private connections to inference platforms.

Ian Andrews, Chief Revenue Officer at Groq, said the collaboration will allow organisations to run AI workloads closer to where data is generated. “This improves responsiveness and simplifies operations at scale,” he said.

Use cases and market outlook

Equinix positioned the distributed AI infrastructure as suitable for industries such as manufacturing, retail, and financial services. Example use cases include predictive maintenance, real-time retail optimisation, and fraud detection.

Dave McCarthy, Research Vice President at IDC, said organisations that avoid distributed AI strategies risk falling behind. He noted that Equinix’s platform brings together access to infrastructure, cloud connectivity, and proximity to end users.

The new products are expected to become available in early 2026.