In a bold move SUBCO has unveiled plans for what it’s calling the world’s longest continuous undersea fibre optic system – a technological marvel designed to feed Australia’s surging appetite for artificial intelligence infrastructure. (AI)
The APX East cable, slated to go live in late 2028, represents more than just another trans-Pacific connection.
It’s a 16-fibre-pair engineering feat that will directly link Australia’s east coast to mainland California without a single regeneration point, interconnection hub, or mid-ocean handoff – a first for any Australia-US system.
“We’ve essentially eliminated the middleman,” said Bevan Slattery, SUBCO’s founder and co-CEO, describing a system that requires equipment only at each endpoint.
“Fibre pair owners just install their submarine line terminal equipment on either end, and they’re connected. No regeneration stations, no intermediate points of presence – just one all-deepwater route.”
The AI Bottleneck Nobody’s Talking About
Behind the technical specifications lies an urgent commercial reality: hyperscalers and next-generation cloud providers are planning to deploy a staggering 3 gigawatts of AI computing capacity across Australia by 2028. But there’s a catch that Slattery believes the industry has overlooked.
“Everyone’s focused on power, land, data centers, and chips,” he explained. “What they’re forgetting is that the longest lead item for Australia won’t be any of those – it’s going to be international connectivity at AI scale.”
Those AI factories will require between 75 and 150 terabits of international capacity to deliver their computational output globally. Systems planning for 2029 or 2030 completion dates simply arrives too late, according to SUBCO’s analysis.
Engineering at the Edge of Possibility
APX East pushes submarine cable technology to new limits. Leveraging cutting-edge developments, the system can be powered from a single end during fault conditions – a remarkable achievement for what will become the world’s longest continuously powered undersea cable.
The route takes a strategically different path as well, becoming the first major cable to land north of Sydney’s existing cable protection zone, while announced competitors cluster in the southern protection area. SUBCO is marketing this diversity as both a sovereignty play and a risk mitigation strategy.
“Australia’s first sovereign-owned international hypercable,” the company emphasised, positioning the project as reducing the nation’s reliance on US-based hyperscalers for critical connectivity.
Calculated Risk, Aggressive Timeline
By designing an entirely deepwater route between Sydney and California, SUBCO aims to sidestep the permitting complications that can plague coastal and shallow-water cable installations. It’s a calculated risk that could shave months off the deployment schedule.
Optional branches to Hawaii and Fiji will follow in 2029, but deliberately aren’t required for the main trunk to achieve operational status – giving customers flexibility while maintaining the aggressive 2028 timeline.
With over $750 million already deployed across its portfolio of systems including OAC, INDIGO, and SMAP, SUBCO has positioned itself as more than just another cable operator.
Under Slattery’s leadership – the tech infrastructure veteran who previously founded PIPE Networks and Megaport – the company has become a key architect of Australia’s emergence as a regional digital hub.
SUBCO’s Subsea Cable Portfolio
In addition to the newly announced APX East, SUBCO owns the following subsea cable systems:
- SMAP: An Australian transcontinental system connecting Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, which is expected to be ready for service in Q1 2026.
- Oman Australia Cable (OAC): A 9,800 km cable connecting Perth, Australia, to Muscat, Oman, which launched for commercial service in November 2022.
- INDIGO-West: Part of the Indigo system, this cable connects Perth to Singapore via Jakarta. SUBCO has increased its spectrum investment on this system.
- INDIGO-Central: This system provides connectivity between Perth and Sydney. SUBCO is the equal largest capacity owner on this system.
Now, with APX East, SUBCO is making its biggest bet yet: that the Pacific’s AI future will be won or lost not in server farms, but in the deepwater channels thousands of meters below the ocean’s surface.
