Google’s Newest Data Pipeline: A Transatlantic Cable to Portugal
Google has connected Nuvem, a new transatlantic subsea cable running beneath the Atlantic between Portugal and the United States, strengthening its grip on the physical layer that carries its cloud and AI services.
The System Overview
- Route: The system links Sines, Portugal, with Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and includes branches to Bermuda and São Miguel in the Azores.
- Capacity: With 16 fibre pairs, each rated at roughly 24 terabits per second, Nuvem boasts a total design capacity of approximately 384Tbps across a trunk of close to 6,900km.
- Construction: SubCom, a New Jersey marine-systems supplier, built and laid the cable, which Google owns and controls through its subsidiary Starfish Infrastructure.
Key Points
- Diverse Path: The route provides Google with a diversified path across an ocean that already moves most intercontinental traffic.
- AI and Cloud Workloads: The company emphasizes how Nuvem supports the same AI and cloud workloads reshaping its data centre strategy.
- Redundancy and Resilience: Together with Firmina (which reached South Carolina in 2023) and Equiano (linking Portugal to West Africa), Nuvem forms a lattice of company-owned routes, enhancing Google’s redundancy and resiliency.
- Bermuda Connectivity: The cable brings Bermuda its first transatlantic fibre route, positioning it as a potential mid-ocean transit hub.
- Cost and Strategic Control: Owning the fibre gives Google both a cost lever and strategic control over its network, insulating it from third-party outages and pricing fluctuations, while allowing it to match cable capacity to its build-out timelines.
Historical Context
Google’s ownership of subsea cables is not new. They have been laying their own capacity for a decade, from a 26Tbps cable across Asia in 2016 to Grace Hopper and Firmina systems in the Atlantic.