Meta, NEC, and Sumitomo to build Petal petabit submarine cable

Meta, NEC, and Sumitomo Electric have announced a collaboration to build “Petal,” the world’s first commercial petabit-class optical submarine cable system. Spanning approximately 7,000 km, the transatlantic cable will connect the United States and France, with operations scheduled to begin in 2029.

The project utilizes advanced multi-core fiber technology, specifically employing two-core fibers to double transmission capacity without a proportional increase in physical infrastructure or power consumption. This allows the system to deliver 1 petabit per second (Pbps) of capacity, which is double the performance of current leading transoceanic lines.

Meta will fund and operate the system. NEC is responsible for the overall design and construction, while Sumitomo Electric will provide the two-core fiber. The French telecommunications company Orange will assist with the landing in France and terrestrial interconnection with European networks. The infrastructure is designed to meet the rising global demand for data driven by artificial intelligence and digital services.