Join for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation plus sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Congressional report details China's new deep-sea cable cutter that can sever armored cables in 13,000 feet of water — report warns of rising Chinese undersea cable cutting capabilities
A new annual report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission delivered to United States Congress claims that the People’s Republic of China is actively developing techniques and technologies to sever undersea communications cables as part of its “gray zone” strategy. Undersea cables carry up to 95% of global internet traffic, and the commission links China’s efforts to the potential disruption of global communications in a future conflict.
In the report’s chapter on security and foreign affairs, Commission analysts state that Chinese science institutions affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army have been acquiring patents and researching methods to cut deep-sea cables cheaply and efficiently. A public disclosure by the China Ship Scientific Research Center earlier this year introduced an “electric cutting device for deep‑sea cables” capable of severing armored lines under more than 13,000 feet of water.
Alongside the technology build‑out, the report points to real‑world incidents, stating that Chinese‐owned or affiliated vessels have engaged in undersea cable damage near Taiwan and in the Baltic Sea. That latter case took place in November 2024, when a Chinese ship dragged its anchor for more than 100 miles, severing two cables linking Sweden-Lithuania and Germany-Finland.
The report also states that the Chinese military is expected to cut undersea cables around Taiwan to cut off the island’s communications in the event of an invasion. The Commission’s researchers have also got their hands on a Chinese database showing “strategic points of interest” in Taiwan, including several undersea cable landing stations.
The Commission’s report greatly emphasizes the threat, making it clear how the cables are the backbone of financial transactions, government services, cloud platforms, and military communications. Disruption in a crisis could degrade internet availability, reroute traffic onto less optimal paths, or cause increased latency and loss of connectivity. As we’ve seen several times in the last few months alone, even small amounts of downtime to services like AWS and Cloudflare are hugely disruptive.
Ultimately, the report makes clear that the physical infrastructure underlying connected systems remains vulnerable, and the geopolitics of cable security is changing rapidly. In response to the growing risk, regulatory actions are already underway. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules to ban certain Chinese technology and equipment from undersea cables linking to the U.S., and to streamline licensing with higher security thresholds for foreign‑adversary participation.
Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
