New 4,000-mile cable will link the UK and US for the first time in a decade
Key Points
- EXA Infrastructure announced EXA Meridian, a 4,071-mile subsea cable between New Jersey and Brean, Somerset
- It is the first transatlantic cable built by a single operator in a decade, ready for service in Q4 2029
- The cable carries 24 fibre pairs and over 500 Tbps of capacity for hyperscalers, neoclouds and financial firms
- Xtera will act as key supplier under a Contract in Force agreement
- A new Brean landing station connects the cable to Slough and EXA's pan-European network
EXA Infrastructure will build a 4,071-mile subsea cable between New Jersey and Brean in Somerset, the first transatlantic cable built by a single operator in ten years.
The company, one of the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platforms in Europe, announced the project, named EXA Meridian, on Wednesday (16 September). It expects the cable to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2029.
EXA Meridian will become the ninth transatlantic cable in EXA Infrastructure’s portfolio, adding new capacity and an alternative route between North America and Europe.
The cable will carry 24 fibre pairs, giving it over 500 terabits per second of capacity for hyperscalers, neoclouds, financial institutions, government and research organisations.
EXA Infrastructure said demand across the Atlantic is growing as AI, cloud and distributed data centre architectures push more traffic between the two continents.
It added that the largest capacity buyers now want to purchase spectrum and entire fibre pairs rather than individual wavelengths, and it has designed the cable for that shift.
“Demand across the Atlantic is changing quickly. The largest customers are increasingly planning in spectrum and fibre pairs, and the capacity they will need towards the end of the decade has to be built now,” said Jim Fagan, CEO at EXA Infrastructure.
“With a Ready For Service (RFS) date set for 2029, EXA Meridian will be the only cable with sufficient capacity to satisfy these large-scale demands,” he added.
Subsea telecommunications specialist Xtera will act as a key supplier on the project, and the two companies have signed a Contract in Force agreement to begin work. EXA Infrastructure will lead and deliver the build itself.
A new cable landing station in Brean will connect the system to Slough and EXA Infrastructure’s wider pan-European network through diverse terrestrial routes.
The firm said this gives customers multiple routes for moving large volumes of data between North America and Europe, with more options for resilience and geographic diversity.
“By integrating EXA Meridian directly into infrastructure we own and operate across Europe, we can give customers greater route choice, resilience and accountability,” said Fagan.
EXA Infrastructure said leading neocloud and hyperscale companies have already signed on as anchor customers, providing commercial backing for the investment alongside the tier-one suppliers secured for delivery.
