Meta unveils new undersea cable project

Meta has announced Petal, a new undersea cable that will connect the United States to France, starting in 2029. The cable is designed to handle a massive amount of data, which is expected to grow significantly due to the expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Petal’s data capacity

Petal will have a data capacity twice that of the best existing systems, reaching up to 1 petabit per second. This is a major leap from current systems, which are measured in terabits, and represents the highest generational increase in capacity for a transoceanic cable, according to Meta.

How Petal will work

The cable will span approximately 7,000 kilometers, connecting the U.S. to the French Atlantic coast. It will use a new type of fiber optic technology with two cores per fiber, allowing more data to be transmitted without doubling the physical infrastructure or energy use.

Collaboration and infrastructure

Meta is working with Orange to land the cable on the French coast and is partnering with companies like NEC and Sumitomo Electric, which specialize in underwater systems and fiber manufacturing. These companies are helping to build the cable’s advanced infrastructure.

Purpose and challenges

Meta emphasizes that the goal of Petal is to prevent network saturation as AI and cloud computing demand more data transmission. The company highlights that the cable’s design allows for higher capacity without a proportional increase in physical or energy resources, addressing the growing need for efficient data transport.