Meta has announced Petal, a 7,000-km (4,300-mile) subsea cable connecting France and the U.S. that will be the first transoceanic cable designed to deliver 1 petabit per second of capacity. Expected to enter service in 2029, Petal will provide roughly twice the capacity of today’s leading transoceanic cables without requiring a proportional increase in power or physical infrastructure.
The cable will use multi-core fiber technology and be developed with NEC and Sumitomo Electric Industries, with Orange supporting the French landing. Meta says subsea cables carry about 99% of intercontinental internet traffic, making increased capacity increasingly important as global data demand grows.
Petal is part of Meta’s broader investment in subsea infrastructure, with the company involved in more than 20 cable projects worldwide, including the much larger Project Waterworth.
