Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable
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A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
By Abhirami G
July 2 (Reuters) - A consortium including Microsoft and telecom startup Lightstorm plans to build a new undersea cable linking India with Malaysia and Singapore as technology firms compete to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in India, one of the world's fastest-growing data markets.
The consortium, whose other members include Tata Communications, Singapore Telecommunications, Singapore's ASEAN Cableship and Japan's NEC Corporation, will construct the I-2SEA cable to support AI, cloud and hyperscale workloads, the companies said on Thursday.
They did not provide additional details including the investment size.
The network will span 3,600 km and have landing stations in Machilipatnam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where Meta and Alphabet have announced data centers.
The cable is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2029, Lightstorm Group CEO and Managing Director Amajit Gupta told Reuters in an interview.
The I Squared-backed company currently connects 19 AI and cloud zones across India through terrestrial fiber cable networks, with the new network expected to bring this number up to 29, Gupta said.
India's operational data center capacity could double from the current 1.4 gigawatts by 2027, based on projects under construction, and increase five-fold by 2030 if planned projects are fast-tracked, Macquarie Equity Research said in a report last October.
Undersea cables carry roughly 95% of the world's internet traffic. India currently has 17 active submarine cables with a maximum potential capacity of 960 terabits per second, and at least 10 more have been publicly announced, according to TeleGeography, a telecommunications research firm.
Separately, Lightstorm plans to list in India in mid-2027, Gupta said, without disclosing any other details. The company was seeking a valuation of up to $1.5 billion in March, according to a media report.
(Reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru; editing by Chandini Monnappa and Sonia Cheema)
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