Approximately 95% of the world’s data flows through undersea fiber optic cables long enough to circle the globe 30 times.

It’s impossible to fully appreciate how nearly every aspect of daily life is becoming digitized. Tens of thousands of terabytes of data travel across an undersea network of fiber optic cables long enough to circle the globe 30 times. Ninety five percent of the world’s data flows through these cables, including texts, emails, government communications, and approximately $10 trillion in daily financial transactions. And of course, our relentless pursuit of increasingly powerful generative artificial intelligence (AI) will only accelerate our dependency on this network of fiber.

But fiber optic cables are remarkably fragile. They’re made of very thin glass fibers and are vulnerable to environmental factors like earthquakes and tsunamis. They’re also subject to accidental damage from boat anchors and fishing equipment. However, suspected non-accidental damage to this crucial undersea network seems to be happening with greater and greater frequency. 

In November 2024, a Chinese vessel dragged its anchor along the Baltic Sea floor for more than 100 miles, severing data cables that connected Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, and Germany. One month later, a Russian oil tanker cut a cable between Finland and Estonia. Earlier in the year, three cables in the Red Sea, through which 90% of communication between Europe and Asia flowed, were damaged when Houthi missiles sank a commercial ship. While intent to sabotage is difficult to prove with absolute certainty, the marked increase in major incidences in the Baltic alone—4 in only 16 months—led NATO to increase electronic surveillance and naval patrols in the region.

Regardless of any vulnerability, real or perceived, the undersea fiber optic network is expanding exponentially. There’s no better example of that than Meta’s latest undersea cable initiative, Project Waterworth. It will connect the US, Brazil, South Africa, and India via a circuitous routing that strategically avoids the South China Sea. Moreover, it will be buried using enhanced techniques to avoid damage from ship anchors and environmental hazards. 

What makes Project Waterworth so noteworthy isn’t just its size, but its ownership. Meta will be the cable’s sole owner. Historically, because of the high cost of such technology (anywhere from $40 to $60 thousand per kilometer), ownership is often shared by a consortium of owners that includes both content providers and private investors. A single cable could have dozens of owners. However, as the demand for cloud computing services has grown, tech companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon have become more invested and involved in undersea cable development. Google is a partial or sole owner of approximately 33 cables; Meta has developed at least 20.

The history of technology’s advance is full of “eureka moments.” The story of Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call is still taught in nearly every American school. But today’s advances are so numerous and so frequent, a quaint tale can’t capture the breakthroughs. The vast undersea fiber optic network that we are increasingly dependent on, and that is literally growing-by-the-moment, is an example of not just one eureka moment, but instead, what may be better described as a “eureka chapter” in the great human story.

This blog was researched and drafted with assistance from Caitlyn Shrewsbury.