Italkstocks, we focus on identifying inflection points where market perception lags structural change. Lumen Technologies is one of those situations. We have initiated a position in LUMN because we believe the company is transitioning from a legacy telecom narrative to an AI infrastructure story that the market has not fully priced in.

Lumen currently generates approximately $12–13 billion in annual revenue, largely from enterprise connectivity and fiber networks. While that business has faced pressure in recent years, it is also the exact infrastructure required to support large-scale AI deployments, particularly Edge AI, where data must move securely and with extremely low latency. AI does not function in isolation. It depends on fast, private, deterministic networks to move data between clouds, data centers, and the physical world.

This is where Lumen’s partnership with Palantir Technologies becomes critical. Palantir provides the software layer that integrates data, governs AI models, and operationalizes decision-making. Lumen provides the physical backbone. Together, they are addressing a major bottleneck in enterprise AI adoption: getting AI out of demos and into production across real infrastructure.

On recent earnings calls, Lumen management has repeatedly emphasized that AI workloads are driving demand for private connectivity, cloud-to-edge networking, and high-bandwidth fiber. The company disclosed over $10 billion in Private Connectivity Fabric deal value, including more than $1 billion in new deals, many tied to data-intensive and AI-related use cases. While Edge AI revenue is not broken out separately today, the direction of demand is clear.

From an investment standpoint, our thesis is straightforward. If Edge AI adoption accelerates as expected, Lumen could add $2–5 billion per year in incremental annual revenue over the next 5–7 years, with upside potential beyond that in a stronger adoption scenario. Importantly, this revenue is likely to be higher margin and more recurring than legacy telecom services, which is how Lumen can stabilize and eventually grow again.

We are not buying Lumen for what it was. We are buying it for what it is becoming: a critical piece of enterprise AI infrastructure. With fiber density, enterprise relationships, and a credible AI software partner in Palantir, Lumen is positioned to benefit from one of the largest secular technology shifts of the next decade.

We are long LUMN. We believe the AI infrastructure transition is real, underappreciated, and just beginning.