Subsea Cable Boom, Act Two: The Routes That Will Define the Next Decade

The world's subsea cable network carries roughly 98% of international internet traffic. For most of its history, this infrastructure was built and owned by consortia of telecom carriers, shared assets reflecting shared need. That ownership model is being dismantled in real time, and the cable routes being built to replace it will define international connectivity for the next twenty years.

Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon collectively own or co-own more subsea cable capacity than any national carrier. Between 2024 and 2026, these four companies committed capital to at least fifteen new cable systems, and industry estimates put the aggregate well above $10 billion. The rationale is straightforward: their traffic needs are now large enough that shared cable consortia can't price capacity efficiently for them, and owning the physical infrastructure gives them control over routing, security, and upgrade timing. What has changed since the first half of this year is that the hyperscalers have stopped simply buying more of the same cable and have started commissioning a new generation of it.