A consortium including Microsoft, Lightstorm, Tata Communications, Singtel, ASEAN Cableship, and NEC is set to develop a 3,600-kilometre subsea cable connecting India with Southeast Asia, aiming to enhance data center connectivity for the rapidly expanding Indian market by 2029.
- 3,600 km I-2SEA subsea cable to connect India with Singapore and Malaysia
- Consortium includes Microsoft, Lightstorm, Tata Communications, Singtel, ASEAN Cableship, NEC
- Cable expected in service by Q4 2029, addressing data capacity bottlenecks
What happened
Microsoft has joined a consortium led by Singapore-based Lightstorm to build a new subsea cable system named I-2SEA, connecting India with Singapore and Malaysia. The cable will span 3,600 kilometres and is planned to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2029. Other consortium members include Tata Communications, Singtel, ASEAN Cableship, and NEC Corporation, with NEC likely handling cable manufacturing and laying.
One landing station is planned for Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, selected for its direct subsea connection to major data center hubs inland, such as Hyderabad. This project is part of a broader surge in India's infrastructure development fueled by growing hyperscaler investments from major technology companies like Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Google.
Why it matters
India produces and consumes approximately 20% of the world's data but hosts only around 3% of global data center capacity, creating a significant imbalance that drives demand for infrastructure expansion. The I-2SEA cable will help alleviate bandwidth bottlenecks by providing a high-capacity, reliable link between India and key Southeast Asian hubs.
This project underscores India’s growing importance as a critical market for cloud, AI, and hyperscale workloads. The cable will enable faster, more efficient data movement essential for AI training and inference, supporting investments totaling billions of dollars by global tech firms and domestic players like Reliance's Jio Platforms.
What to watch next
The success of the I-2SEA cable will hinge on parallel investments in data center compute, power, and cooling infrastructure on land. Additionally, competing hyperscale investments by Amazon and Indian conglomerates such as Adani will shape the region's data capacity gap and infrastructure landscape over the coming decade.