Lightstorm and Microsoft build 3,600-km I-2SEA undersea cable to connect India's AI hubs with Singapore

Microsoft partners with Singapore's Lightstorm to build India-Southeast Asia undersea cable

July 2 (Reuters) - A consortium including Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab 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 (TATA.NS), opens new tab, Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), opens new tab, 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 (META.O), opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab 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, opens new tab. Reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru; editing by Chandini Monnappa and Sonia Cheema Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Lightstorm Partners with Microsoft, Singtel, and Tata Communications to build I-2SEA submarine cable system

Lightstorm, an Asia Pacific AI connectivity platform, has officially signed contracts to construct a new submarine cable system named I-2SEA. The project is being developed in collaboration with a consortium that includes Microsoft, Singtel, and Tata Communications to address the expanding bandwidth requirements of hyperscalers, GPU infrastructure providers, and enterprises managing AI training and inference workloads across the India-Southeast Asia corridor. The 3,600-kilometer subsea cable system will connect India's east coast directly to Singapore and Malaysia. It is projected to be Ready-for-Service (RFS) by the fourth quarter of 2029. Route Architecture and Regional Connectivity The I-2SEA system is designed to link major AI and data center hubs across the region: * India: The cable will feature dual landing points on India's east coast. One landing will be located at Machilipatnam, designed to offer a direct subsea path to the data center clusters in Hyderabad. The second landing will be positioned at a geographically diverse location in South Chennai. * Southeast Asia: The system will connect these Indian hubs directly to Singapore -- a primary cloud interconnect and AI hub -- and to Malaysia's growing data center corridor in Kuala Lumpur. Lightstorm intends to integrate the subsea capacity with its existing 30,000+ kilometer terrestrial network in India. This integration will provide onward connectivity from the landing stations to Hyderabad, Mumbai, and more than 80 data centers across the country. According to the company, the combination of the subsea route and its terrestrial backhaul network is expected to offer a low-latency transmission path on the Singapore/Malaysia-Hyderabad corridor. Technical Specifications and Architecture The I-2SEA cable system incorporates several design and operational features focused on performance and reliability: Network Integration and Management For its customers, Lightstorm will extend its SmartNet AI Fabric -- a network architecture optimized for low-jitter and low-loss transport -- into the subsea domain. Lightstorm will operate the cable landing stations in India and manage the network through its SmartNet AI Fabric and Polarin platform. The Polarin platform enables on-demand provisioning and real-time network visibility, allowing users to scale and monitor capacity. Open and Neutral Infrastructure The cable system employs an interoperable architecture and will utilize carrier-neutral landing infrastructure at both Indian landing points to facilitate open access for various network operators. Physical Protection and Resilience To mitigate the risk of physical damage and ensure high network uptime, the consortium has adopted a deep cable burial strategy. The system's routing plan targets a burial depth of three meters across all buried sections of the subsea network. Consortium and Supply Partners The project is governed under a Joint Build Agreement between the four primary consortium members: Lightstorm, Microsoft, Singtel, and Tata Communications. The consortium has finalized agreements with key industrial partners for the manufacturing and deployment phases: * NEC Corporation has been selected as the turnkey system supplier. * ASEAN Cableship Pte Ltd (ACPL) will serve as the marine installation partner. With the signing of the official construction contracts, the I-2SEA cable system has formally opened for commercial capacity commitments from enterprises and telecom carriers. Regarding this, Amajit Gupta, Group CEO & MD, Lightstorm, said: Lightstorm works around a single mission: interconnecting intelligence. As majority owner of I-2SEA and with SmartNet AI Fabric already delivering AI-ready transport across data centers and GPU clusters in India, we can now offer the natural extension of that platform into the subsea domain. On our network, AI regions across India, Malaysia, and Singapore will be connected by a single, purpose-built, end-to-end system -- engineered for the performance and scale that AI infrastructure requires.

Lightstorm, Microsoft, Singtel, and Tata Comm Launch New I-2SEA Submarine Cable

A Submarine Cable Purpose-Built to Interconnect AI Regions Across India, Malaysia and Singapore Lightstorm, Asia Pacific's leading AI connectivity platform, today announced the official signing of the contracts to launch the build of a brand new submarine cable system, connecting India, Malaysia and Singapore, with consortium partners Microsoft, Singtel and Tata Communications. The cable system, to be named as I-2SEA, is designed from the ground up to serve the rapidly growing demand from hyperscalers, GPU infrastructure providers, and enterprises running AI training and inference workloads across the India-Southeast Asia corridor. I-2SEA links India's East Coast home to the fastest-growing AI and hyperscaler data center clusters in Hyderabad and Chennai -- directly to Singapore, the region's preeminent cloud interconnect and AI hub, and Malaysia's emerging data center corridor at Kuala Lumpur. The cable system will have dual landings in India, with one at Machilipatnam providing the shortest subsea access to Hyderabad, and the other at a new diverse landing location in South Chennai. The Lightstorm customers in this cable system will have the option of connecting into Lightstorm's 30,000+ km terrestrial network for seamless onward reach to Hyderabad, Mumbai, and 80+ data centers nationwide. Targeted to be Ready-for-Service in Q4 2029, this high-capacity cable of estimated total length of 3600 km from Singapore to Machilipatnam with onward connectivity to Hyderabadwhen coupled with Lightstorm's low latency backhaul network in India, is expected to deliver fastest transmission of any cable on the Singapore/Malaysia-Hyderabad corridor, the most strategically critical city pair for AI workloads in the region. "Lightstorm works around a single mission: interconnecting intelligence. As majority owner of I-2SEA and with SmartNet AI Fabric already delivering AI-ready transport across data centers and GPU clusters in India, we can now offer the natural extension of that platform into the subsea domain. On our network, AI regions across India, Malaysia, and Singapore will be connected by a single, purpose-built, end-to-end system -- engineered for the performance and scale that AI infrastructure requires." -- Amajit Gupta, Group CEO & MD, Lightstorm I-2SEA, for Lightstorm customers, will integrate Lightstorm's SmartNet AI Fabric -- engineered for low-jitter, loss-optimized transport across data centers, cloud hubs, and distributed AI zones -- into the subsea domain. Lightstorm operates the cable system's Indian landing stations and is equipped to provide unified network management through its SmartNet AI Fabric and Polarin platform. The system features an Interoperable cable architecture and carrier-neutral landing infrastructure at both Indian landing points. Combined with Lightstorm's Polarin platform for on-demand provisioning and real time network visibility, Lightstorm customers can activate, scale and monitor I-2SEA capacity with speed and flexibility. Built with resilience at its core, the system utilises optimal route planning combined with a deep cable burial strategy that targets three-meter depth across the entire network for the buried sections. This gives the I-2SEA cable system high level of protection and high uptime. The I-2SEA consortium operates under a Joint Build Agreement among Lightstorm, Microsoft, Singtel and Tata Communications. NEC Corporation has been appointed as system supplier and ASEAN Cableship Pte Ltd (ACPL) as marine installation partner. The system is now open for capacity commitments.