Hyperscaler-led investments now dominate subsea cable projects, with over 80% of trans-Pacific bandwidth being consumed by Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon. These content providers increasingly prioritize exclusive fiber pair ownership to maintain greater control over their infrastructure, performance, and cost structures. A prime example is Google’s TOPAZ cable, which connects Japan to North America via Canada, creating an alternative route that bypasses traditional landing points.
This trend is reshaping global connectivity, reducing reliance on carrier-led consortiums, and fostering direct interconnections between hyperscaler data centers. As these dynamics evolve, Indonesia has emerged as a critical landing and transit hub, offering geopolitical neutrality and strategic positioning for hyperscalers seeking low-latency, high-resilience alternatives to Singapore.
The Shift from Carrier Consortiums to Private Investment
On some of the biggest subsea routes like the trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, and intra-Asia, content providers account for the vast majority of demand (80% or more). Content providers are focused on connecting data centers across different zones. Due to the concentration of service delivery in major Asian, European, and U.S. markets, core routes connecting these regions are of highest priority to the content providers.
Telin is playing a pivotal role in facilitating this transition by spearheading the Indonesia Cable Express (ICE) and Bifrost cable systems, which are specifically designed to accommodate hyperscaler demand.
These systems provide low-latency, high-capacity connectivity between North America, Asia, and beyond, ensuring scalable infrastructure that meets the evolving needs of content providers.
Telin’s Role in Supporting Hyperscaler Expansion
Recognizing the dominance of hyperscalers in global connectivity, Telin is actively collaborating with industry leaders to enhance trans-Pacific and intra-Asia connectivity. The ICE network, for instance, integrates multiple subsea systems to deliver high-speed interconnection between hyperscaler hubs, reinforcing Indonesia’s position as a preferred gateway for cloud and AI-driven applications.
Moreover, Bifrost—a groundbreaking 20,000 km cable system—provides the first direct link between Southeast Asia and the U.S. West Coast via Indonesia’s Java and Celebes Seas. This route bypasses the congested South China Sea, ensuring resilient, low-latency connectivity for hyperscalers, AI workloads, and next-generation cloud services.
The Future of Hyperscaler-Driven Subsea Investments
AI-driven demand is fundamentally reshaping subsea connectivity. Next-generation subsea cables must support the exponential growth of AI data movement, edge computing, and higher-density cloud workloads. As AI training clusters become increasingly power-intensive, data movement efficiency and ultra-low-latency routes are paramount for seamless global operations.
Hyperscalers are prioritizing low-latency trans-Pacific routes such as Bifrost, ICE, and TOPAZ, designed to accelerate AI model training, edge processing, and real-time data exchange. Telin’s Bifrost and ICE cables are specifically engineered to meet AI-driven demand, leveraging deep-water routes through Indonesia to provide cost-effective, resilient, and high-capacity connectivity solutions.
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The subsea cable industry is undergoing a major transformation, driven by the increasing dominance of hyperscalers in global data traffic. As traditional carrier-led models give way to hyperscaler-owned infrastructure, the industry must adapt to this new reality by prioritizing scalable, resilient, and geopolitically neutral routes.
Telin’s investments in ICE and Bifrost reflect this shift, ensuring that Indonesia plays a central role in the future of hyperscaler connectivity. By leveraging deep-water routes, strategic partnerships, and next-generation network designs, Telin is future-proofing global subsea infrastructure to meet the ever-growing demands of hyperscalers and the digital economy at large.
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