SUBCO plans sovereign APX East hypercable to US by 2028

SUBCO has announced APX East, a new submarine cable system planned to connect Australia directly with the mainland United States, with service targeted for the fourth quarter of 2028.

The company said APX East will run between Sydney and California and use a 16 fibre pair design. SUBCO described the project as an "express hypercable". It said the system will avoid intermediate landings and interconnection points on the main route.

SUBCO said APX East will offer direct fibre connectivity between Australia and the US mainland without landing or interconnecting in between. The company said this design will reduce latency between the two countries and simplify network architecture for customers.

Route design

SUBCO said APX East will use an all-deepwater route across the Pacific. The company said the trunk system will not require optical regeneration on the main path.

"By utilising the latest developments in submarine cable technologies, we have designed the longest, continuous optical subsea cable path in the world and one that can be powered from a single end in fault condition. Unlike all existing transpacific systems between Australia and the United States, fibre pair owners on APX-East simply need to install SLTE on either end, and they're away. No regeneration, no intermediate PoP's, just a single all deepwater route," said Bevan Slattery, Founder & Co-CEO, SUBCO.

In submarine cable systems, operators typically deploy repeaters and sometimes regeneration points along long routes. SUBCO said APX East will avoid intermediate points on the trunk route. It said fibre pair owners will only need to install submarine line terminal equipment at each end.

SUBCO also said the system can be single-end power fed across the entire system. It said this includes operation in a fault condition.

Landing diversity

SUBCO said APX East will land at a new location north of Sydney's existing cable protection zone. The company said this provides route diversity from other announced "hypercables" that plan to land in the Southern Cable Protection Zone.

SUBCO said the main system does not require intermediate points for service readiness. It said future branches to Hawaii and Fiji sit outside the trunk plan.

The company said a Hawaii branch is expected to follow in the fourth quarter of 2029. It also said branches are optional for customers seeking additional resiliency or a way to regenerate capacity to support network growth.

Market demand

The announcement comes amid rising demand for international capacity linked to large-scale AI and cloud infrastructure investments. Operators and investors have discussed Australia as a location for major compute build-outs, including high-density facilities that depend on international data transport.

"Hyperscalers and neoclouds are looking to deploy 3GW of AI factories in Australia between now and 2028. This is going to need between 100Tb-200Tb of international capacity to deliver those tokens to the world. Any future system with a 2029 or 2030 RFS simply won't work. APX-East is an all-deepwater system between Sydney and California, that reduces permitting risk, providing accelerated installation and completion.

"With all the talk of AI factories, people are forgetting that the longest lead item for Australia isn't going to be power, land, data centers or chips, it's going to be international connectivity at AI scale. APX East will be a critical enabler for Australia's aspirations to become a leader in the AI world," said Slattery.

SUBCO said the APX East timeline reflects demand for capacity before the end of the decade. The company positioned the project against systems that would enter service later.

Ownership focus

SUBCO said APX East will be Australia's first sovereign-owned international hypercable. It said this will reduce reliance on US hyperscalers for Australian connectivity needs.

The company has developed and operated previous cable projects including OAC, INDIGO, and SMAP. It also said it has invested more than USD $750 million to date across its portfolio.

SUBCO said APX East is planned to reach ready-for-service in the fourth quarter of 2028, with optional branch connections expected in 2029.