The Future of Subsea Cables

Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in July 2023. It was updated in March 2025 to include the latest information. 

Subsea cable systems play an essential role in enabling the digital world we know today, but it’s important to note that they predate the internet by well over a century. These systems are merely a transmission medium we have adapted to support various telecommunications technologies over the years.

Now, we must ask how subsea systems will continue to evolve to meet the changing requirements of the digital world. Bandwidth is exploding to all-time highs. We can safely assume it will continue to grow, driven by demand for cloud services and the emergence of AI. Thus, it’s no surprise that the volume of subsea cable construction is also the highest it’s ever been. There are currently 81 new cable systems in the planning phases[1], and the total value of new cables entering service between 2024 and 2026 is expected to surpass $10 billion.[2]

Cables aren’t just growing in number, either: They’re also becoming more advanced. Operators are implementing cutting-edge technologies, both in wet plant and dry plant components, to help meet growing demand for bandwidth.

A new state-of-the-art cable system, TAM-1, will be hosted at the Equinix MI1 Miami IBX® data center, linking Florida with Central America and the Caribbean. With a total design capacity of 648 Tbps, the system will provide the low-latency connectivity the region demands—a significant upgrade from legacy cables in the Caribbean Basin. This initiative reflects Trans Americas Fiber System’s commitment to building a strong partnership with Equinix while reinforcing its leadership in expanding connectivity across the region.[3]

Here are several other factors we expect to define the future of subsea cables:

• Subsea cable infrastructure will grow, with a focus on geographic route diversity.
• Cable maintenance will become increasingly important.
• AI adoption and fiber penetration to the edge will drive demand, with a focus on sustainability.
• Satellites will supplement subsea infrastructure by providing emergency communications during disaster recovery.

Subsea cables will expand and provide greater route diversity

Subsea cables are vulnerable to damage caused by natural disasters, fishing, everyday maritime activity and more. Limited cable route options within a defined corridor can heighten vulnerability to outages. When relying on a reduced number of subsea cable routes within a specific geographic area, the potential for service-affecting failures increases significantly.

Improving route diversity can help bypass current cable bottlenecks. For instance, operators are exploring alternatives to the Red Sea corridor, which has traditionally been a choke point for traffic passing between Asia and Europe. These alternatives include leveraging terrestrial fiber routes in the Middle East and circling the Horn of Africa. Other operators are looking to avoid geopolitical hotspots in parts of the Asia-Pacific region; they’re expanding along the Great Southern Route that connects the Quad countries[4] to achieve resiliency and security.

This expansion is creating demand for new cable landing stations in more places, including emerging markets. In recent years, Equinix has opened new data centers in places like Jakarta, Johannesburg, Johor and Salalah. By terminating cable infrastructure inside Equinix carrier-neutral colocation data centers, service providers get access to low-latency cloud on-ramps and edge AI platforms. In turn, this will help close the digital divide and support the growth of digital economies in emerging markets.

Equinix Fabric®, our software-defined interconnection solution, is designed to provide global multicloud connectivity with built-in resiliency, reliability and reach. Since it provides virtual connections built on top of various long-haul and subsea cable systems, the solution can seamlessly redirect traffic without impacting end users.

Subsea cable maintenance is a challenge that we all must help address

In addition to building subsea cables with access to new corridors, we must also consider what happens to existing subsea cables after they break. According to the International Cable Protection Committee, there were more than 200 cable repairs performed during 2023, an average of about three repairs per week.[5]

Subsea cable maintenance is a niche industry, and it isn’t growing as quickly as the cable network it services. There are only about 80 cable ships in the world today, of which only about 20 specialize in repair work.[6] While laying new cables may be more glamorous and profitable, maintaining existing cables is just as important, if not more so. That’s because existing cables carry live traffic, while new cables only carry the potential for future traffic.

In the future, building more repair ships and training more crews will be essential. But there are steps we can start taking today to get the most from the repair ships we already have:

• Coordinate to distribute maintenance ships in a way that accurately reflects demand and risk
• Work with governments to streamline regulations around when and where ships can perform maintenance
• Improve collaboration among cable operators to help optimize fleet utilization, including prioritizing the most urgent repairs

This is a global challenge, and it’s one that all stakeholders are heavily incentivized to collaborate in solving.

AI will redefine global connectivity 

As AI adoption grows, it will reshape digital infrastructure. Organizations will need AI-ready data centers in more locations. This includes hyperscale data centers to provide extremely high compute and power capacity for training centers, as well as edge inference data centers. Equinix data centers are strategically located in densely populated metros to serve real-time, latency-sensitive inference workloads. We also offer a rich ecosystem of connectivity, which includes direct access to subsea and national networks.

AI datasets need to move between training and inference locations quickly, and those datasets will continue to grow larger as models become more sophisticated. Therefore, high-bandwidth connectivity will be vital for the success of AI. As AI accelerates demand, innovations in optical and fiber technology will be key. AI and fiber penetration will grow together.

Organizations must also consider the sustainability impact of AI. Equinix has proudly contributed to Sustainable Subsea Networks, a SubOptic Foundation project funded by the Internet Society Foundation. This initiative produced a deep-dive study into what’s required to make subsea cables more sustainable.[7]

More than 235 Equinix facilities have 100% renewable energy coverage. Also, we’ve begun to roll out advanced liquid cooling capabilities. Liquid cooling is essential to enable the high-density hardware that AI demands, while also supporting the goal of running AI workloads in an energy-efficient manner.

Satellites will supplement, but not replace, subsea cables

Satellites play a critical role in extending connectivity to remote and underserved regions. They also serve as a reliable backup for emergency communications and facilitating first response efforts during natural disasters. This can be particularly important for islands that may only have a single subsea cable linking them to the outside world. When the South Pacific nation of Tonga experienced a major volcanic eruption in 2022, satellites helped restore emergency communications within days.[8]

Also, satellites provide a valuable fallback to reduce disruption in the event of subsea cable outages. This is why NATO is funding a project intended to make the internet less vulnerable to disruption by rerouting traffic into space.[9]

The Equinix digital platform of open, vender-neutral data centers is spread across strategic metros worldwide. This makes us well-positioned to meet the future infrastructure needs of the satellite communications industry.

Prepare for whatever the future holds

With the evolution and optimization of technology, we feel confident that data volumes will continue to grow, and that transmission media—be they subsea cables, communication satellites or something new altogether—will grow to help meet that demand.

Regardless of what happens next, you’ll need a future-looking digital infrastructure partner to help you capitalize on the opportunities and navigate the challenges. This is where Equinix can help. Equinix IBX data centers are located in 70+ metros worldwide, many of them key subsea cable landing sites. As global bandwidth continues to become more widely available, ecosystem partners are gathering at Equinix to turn that bandwidth into collaboration and innovation opportunities.

To learn more, read the Global Interconnection Index (GXI) report. The GXI, a market study published by Equinix, examines how suppliers and industry partners are helping one another pursue their digital transformation priorities by interconnecting inside vendor-neutral colocation data centers.

[1] Lane Burdette, How Many Submarine Cables Are There, Anyway?, TeleGeography, February 27, 2025.

[2] Paul Brodsky, Building Tomorrow’s Internet: An Update on New Cable Investment, May 8, 2024.

[3] Trans Americas Fiber – Submarine Cable System

[4] The Quad, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

[5] Submarine Cable Resilience, International Telecommunication Union.

[6] Josh Dzieza, The Cloud Under the Sea, The Verge, April 16, 2024.

[7] Nicole Starosielski et al, Report on Best Practices in Subsea Telecommunications Sustainability, Sustainable Subsea Networks, January 2024.

[8] Rachel Jewett, Satellite Operators Restore Critical Communications to Tonga After Volcanic Eruption, Via Satellite, January 21, 2022.

[9] NATO-funded project to reroute internet to space in case of disruption to critical infrastructure, NATO, August 28, 2024.