Over the weekend, Facebook owner Meta announced“Project Waterworth,”an ambitious plan to build out a globe-spanning, 31,000-mile subsea internet cable. That’s longer from end to end than the circumference of the Earth. When completed, the massive cable is expected to connect the US, Brazil, South Africa, India, and other regions along the route. The project represents the latest push by Big Tech companies to control a greater share of subsea cable infrastructure. That general shift in who maintains the internet’s “pipes” could shift even further with the heightened data demands introduced by competition over advanced AI.
Though Meta did not provide specific details about the exact locations of its routes, a graphic shows a winding trail that begins on the US East Coast, moves down to South America, and travels across the lower Atlantic Ocean before making its way back up to India. The final stretch of the cable crosses all the way along the Pacific Ocean back to a port on the US West Coast. It’s still unclear exactly how much Project Waterworth will cost (Meta simply said it’s expecting a “multi-billion-dollar” investment). Previous rumors reported by TechCrunch in November, however, claimed Meta was prepared to spend $10 billion on a globe-spanning undersea cable project that seems to match Waterworth’s description. A Meta spokesperson told Popular Science they anticipate the project could finish construction “toward the end of this decade.”
Meta-building infrastructure capable of supporting AI data demands
This isn’t Meta’s first foray into subsea connectivity.The company has reportedly had a hand in at least 20 different cable projects over the past decade.These new cables, however, are being built specifically with artificial intelligence in mind. Project Waterworth will utilize a 24-fiber-pair system that Meta claims will be particularly useful for more data-intensive AI projects. For comparison, many smaller subsea cables will typically only have 8 to 16 fiber pairs.
There are possible political complications to consider as well. In 2020, Meta (then called Facebook) and Google were forced to abandon plans to build out an undersea cableconnecting the US to Hong Kong after US security agencies warned it could possibly become a target of Chinese government spying.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/meta-spending-billions-world-longest-193058144.html
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May 11, 2018 1:11:07 AM EDT
Q !4pRcUA0lBE ID: 000000 No. 78
Facebook is listening to you 24/7/365.
Literally.
[F9 algorithm]
Are they recording/safe-housing?
METAdata collection?
Building 8.
DARPA.
[CHINA-CHINA-CHINA]
Q