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The E2A system, linking Japan and the USA, is expected to be ready for service in 2028
Today, an international consortium including Chunghwa Telecom, SoftBank Corp., SK Broadband, and Verizon Business has announced the start of construction of the East Asia to North America (E2A) submarine cable system.
The E2A system, which features 12 fibre pairs and a total capacity of over 182Tbps, will span approximately 12,500km across the Pacific, connecting Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan to the west coast of the US.
Photo courtesy of Chunghwa Telecom
The system will be deployed by subsea cable specialist Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and is expected to be ready for service in H2 of 2028.
According to the consortium, the driving factor behind the cable’s conception is the rapid growth in AI applications, data centres, and cloud services, which is taking place in both the US and East Asia.
“We’re very pleased to have initiated the project for a new submarine cable connecting East Asia and the United States. As we enter an era where AI is being fully implemented, the importance of international submarine cables connecting not only Japan and the United States but also major parts of Asia as arteries of information is increasing,” explained Teruyuki Oya, Vice President, Head, Mobile & Network, Technology Unit at SoftBank. “SoftBank will advance the development of global, multifaceted, and stable platforms by building infrastructure for the AI era.”
The importance of developing alternative data transport routes across the Pacific was also highlighted, with E2A expected to connect to additional subsea projects currently under construction, such as the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2) and Apricot systems.
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