Meta is expanding its private subsea cable infrastructure to support AI and global data demands. The company aims to achieve transmission speeds of 1 petabit per second on long-distance routes, which would double current industry performance standards.
The core of this strategy is Project Waterworth, announced in February 2025. This system will span over 50,000 kilometers, connecting five continents, including the United States, India, Brazil, and South Africa. It features a 24 fiber-pair architecture designed for depths of 7,000 meters.
Additionally, the company is developing the Aurora transatlantic system, linking the United States and Denmark. Spanning approximately 7,268 kilometers, it targets a capacity of 497 terabits per second and is scheduled to begin operations in 2028.
Meta is shifting from leasing capacity to owning its infrastructure, a trend also observed among Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. While the industry expects petabit-class cables to become standard by 2030, Meta is actively researching architectures to reach this threshold sooner.
