Submarine Cables

CHAPTER 07

Big Tech is buying the ocean floor

Over 97% of international data flows through fiber-optic cables on the ocean floor. Ownership is rapidly shifting from telecom consortia to sole ownership by tech giants.

Cable Ownership (by count)

🇺🇸Google (~33)40%

🇺🇸Meta (~15)22%

🇺🇸Microsoft (~5)8%

🇺🇸Amazon (~4)6%

Telecom carriers24%

US hyperscalers control ~90% of transatlantic capacity and 70%+ of global bandwidth. Cable manufacturing is concentrated: 98% built by four firms — SubCom (US), Alcatel (France), NEC (Japan), and HMN Technologies (China).

Submarine Cable Infrastructure

🇺🇸 US & Allies🇨🇳 China

Key Relationships

Google: cables → Cloud → Gemini

Full vertical integration from physical wire to AI model.

Meta: Project Waterworth

$10B. World’s longest cable. Sole ownership.

HMN Technologies (China)

~11% of cable manufacturing. Building in SE Asia and Africa.