Weaving an undersea world-wide web for the World Wide Web.
(Image credit: Getty / Eoneren)
All this talk about massive AI datacenters is well and good, but without communication, they're basically useless warehouses, as a CNBC video report rightfully points out. The undersea cabling infrastructure that wires the continents together is the web that holds the world together, and it's getting ever-increasing amounts of investments, to the tune of $13 billion over the next two years.
CNBC says this amount is roughly twice that of the 2022-2024 spend, and much as you'd expect, it's driven primarily by the big tech companies, including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. The report claims that existing cables already cover roughly 1 million miles (1.1 million km), and that number is getting larger every year. Paul Gabla from Alcatel, the world's largest undersea cable maker and installer, remarks that in the last decade, the Big Tech companies made up about 50% of the respective market.
Amazon's Fastnet project will span quite the distance from Maryland, US to Ireland, but it's hardly the only one. As a reminder, Meta's ambitious Project Waterworth is set to cover another 31,000 miles (50,000 km), making it the largest undersea project ever, and is basically as direct an around-the-world connection as the sea allows.
The same company is building out the 2Africa project, to basically wire all of Africa together, along with some parts of Europe, with 28,000 miles (45,061 km) of wires. Last July, Google announced the sun-inspired Sol cable, connecting Florida, Bermuda, the Azores, and Spain. This cable is a complement to Nuvem (meaning "cloud" in Portuguese), an existing route covering the same points, but on a separate path. Microsoft is also getting in on the fun and uniting Ireland and the UK with three undersea cables.
It's not all fun and chatbots, though. Undersea cable cuts are an ever-increasing danger, with particularly troublesome consequences when one is damaged, sometimes cutting entire nations off from the rest of the internet. Matthew Mooney from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future notes that cables are damaged all the time, and although nearly all events are accidental, there seems to be a "fact pattern" forming around some recent cuts.
The report points out that NATO launched the Baltic Sentry program early in the year, after multiple "mysterious" cable cuts in the region. The program apparently had good effect, as there have been no more cuts in the area. Meanwhile, Taiwan and China are predictably at odds with undersea cables, leading Taiwan to increase patrolling around its shores.
CNBC's report notes that as of 2023, the average repair time of a damaged cable was 40 days, a figure that the undersea cable industry is trying to bring down. To that end, Alcatel points out that there have been conversations within its industry group to come up with a new model for cable repairing, an undertaking that involves the cooperation of every country whose shore has data running through it.
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Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.
