In a bold move to expand global connectivity and fuel the development of artificial intelligence, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced plans to install a massive undersea cable spanning five continents.
The project, named “Waterworth,” will stretch over 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles), linking the United States, South Africa, India, Brazil, and other regions.
This initiative reflects the growing influence of tech giants in the subsea cable industry, a space traditionally dominated by telecom providers.
Global communication relies heavily on an intricate network of undersea cables, with roughly 1.2 million kilometers of these conduits already in place, according to a 2024 report by the U.S.-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). These cables serve as the backbone of the internet, transmitting vast amounts of data across continents.
With the rise of AI, streaming services, and cloud computing, data demands have skyrocketed. Companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft are increasingly investing in their own infrastructure to ensure faster, more reliable connections for their platforms.
“At some point, when your growth is so big and your demand volumes outweigh others, you’re incentivized to invest yourself—cut out the middleman,” explains Alan Mauldin, research director at specialist data firm Telegeography.
Meta’s latest project represents a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year investment. However, compared to the tens of billions of dollars tech giants are pouring into AI development annually, it’s a relatively small price to pay for long-term connectivity control.
This isn’t Meta’s first foray into undersea cable projects. The company has previously been involved in multiple partnerships, but “Waterworth” marks its third privately owned cable, following “Anjana,” which is set to go live this year, linking the U.S. and Spain.
Despite this, Meta still trails behind Google, which owns 16 subsea cables. The search giant, along with other hyperscalers like Microsoft and Amazon, has aggressively expanded its network infrastructure to support AI and cloud services.
Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are increasingly building their own cables for several reasons:
- Faster and more secure global operations – Owning the infrastructure allows them to reduce reliance on third-party providers and optimize their services.
- Increased resilience – Having multiple cables ensures that if one fails, data can be rerouted through others.
- AI-driven demand – Training advanced AI models requires transferring vast amounts of data across computing clusters worldwide.
“One new big, high-capacity cable doesn’t do you any good… you need three or four because if one goes down, two go down, you can still route the traffic,” Mauldin explains.
Every year, around 200 incidents of undersea cable damage occur due to natural disasters, ship anchors, or fishing equipment. There’s also growing concern about sabotage and cyber espionage, prompting NATO to increase patrols in regions like the Baltic Sea.
In light of recent geopolitical tensions, Meta has strategically designed the “Waterworth” route to avoid conflict-prone regions like the South China Sea and the Red Sea, where disputes and security threats are prevalent.
This careful planning aims to prevent disruptions while ensuring stable connectivity for Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and its AI-driven services.
Meta has explicitly stated that “Waterworth” will help provide the high-speed connectivity needed to drive AI innovation. The AI industry is experiencing explosive growth, and the ability to quickly move massive datasets between global data centers is becoming increasingly important.
“AI is the hottest issue in the industry right now,” says Mauldin, though its exact impact on subsea cable demand remains uncertain. As AI-powered services expand, tech giants with established global infrastructure will have a competitive edge, ensuring faster AI model training, improved cloud computing, and seamless user experiences.