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Mar 05, 2025

Mark Zuckerberg Has Come Up with Yet Another Crazy Idea: To Deploy a 50,000 KM Cable Under the Oceans. But for What Purpose?

Meta is pushing the limits with its most ambitious project yet: a 50,000 km undersea cable stretching across the globe. Designed to handle the rising demand for AI and immersive technologies, this

Meta is pushing the limits with its most ambitious project yet: a 50,000 km undersea cable stretching across the globe. Designed to handle the rising demand for AI and immersive technologies, this infrastructure could reshape the internet.

Meta isn’t backing down. After revolutionizing social media and pouring billions into artificial intelligence and virtual reality, Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant is now diving deep—literally.

Its latest project, Waterworth, is nothing short of a technological behemoth: a 50,000-kilometer undersea cable, the longest ever built, set to encircle the globe. The goal? Supercharging global connectivity to support the skyrocketing demand for immersive technologies and AI.

Waterworth is no ordinary undersea cable. Unlike traditional infrastructure, which typically features 8 to 16 fiber pairs, this deep-sea titan will use 24, ensuring unmatched data transmission capacity.

Meta promises an optimized deployment, burying the cable up to 7,000 meters deep in certain areas, reinforcing it against seismic activity and accidental anchor damage, and designing it for maximum speed and resilience.

But one detail stands out: the cable’s strategic route. It will connect New York, Los Angeles, Brazil, South Africa, and Asia, yet Europe is conspicuously absent from the plan.

Is this a calculated move? A push for independence from European infrastructure? Meta remains tight-lipped, fueling speculation.

Why take on such a colossal project? Because bandwidth demand is exploding. Meta is betting big on cloud gaming, mixed reality, and AI, all of which require massive data capacity. With its Quest headsets, AI-driven applications, and metaverse ambitions, the company needs a rock-solid infrastructure to keep up.

“As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, network capacity and resilience are becoming essential,” Meta emphasizes. With Waterworth, the company aims to secure its own data highways, reducing reliance on third-party providers and ensuring a seamless global data flow.

The world currently has nearly 600 subsea cable systems with around 1,700 landing points, either operational or under development, according to telecommunications firm TeleGeography.

Meta has already played a significant role in this sector, having developed 20 subsea cables, including the 2Africa Pearls extension—a 45,000-kilometer-long network linking Africa, Europe, and Asia. The company is also among several major US-based tech firms ramping up investments in cable infrastructure.

In 2024, Google announced a $1 billion (€960 million) investment in two new cables spanning the Pacific Ocean to Japan, alongside plans to build another subsea cable connecting Africa to Australia.

Meta has yet to reveal the exact price tag, but a project of this scale is expected to cost billions of dollars, spread over several years. It’s a bold investment, reflecting Mark Zuckerberg’s determination to own the future of the internet.

The big question remains: Will Waterworth live up to its promises, or will it sink into the depths of forgotten mega-projects? One thing is certain—Meta isn’t slowing down anytime soon.