Amazon Web Services is adding a major new artery to the global internet. The company has announced Fastnet, a privately owned subsea fiber-optic cable that will link Maryland’s Eastern Shore with County Cork, Ireland. When it becomes operational in 2028, Fastnet will move data across the Atlantic at 320 terabits per second, enough bandwidth to stream more than 12 million HD movies simultaneously.
The project marks AWS’s first solo subsea system and Maryland’s first undersea landing. For Amazon, it represents a deep investment in the physical infrastructure that underpins cloud computing and artificial intelligence. There’s clearly a need: subsea cables carry roughly 95% of the world’s internet traffic.
Vast Scale
AWS executives describe Fastnet as an effort to diversify routes and reduce risk. The 4,000-mile cable will connect through two landing points engineered outside traditional transatlantic corridors, adding geographic redundancy to Amazon’s network. If another cable were cut or damaged (sometimes caused by ship anchors or even sabotage) Fastnet can automatically reroute data to keep cloud operations running.
That scale is immense. AWS says its global network already spans more than nine million kilometers of terrestrial and subsea fiber, enough to reach the Moon and back 11 times. Fastnet will integrate directly into this mesh, allowing the company’s traffic-optimization software to monitor every link in real time and make millions of routing adjustments each day.
Optical Switching
The system is built for both speed and longevity. Each section of cable will include advanced optical-switching branching units that can redirect data to future landing sites as traffic patterns evolve. In coastal regions, multiple layers of steel armor will guard the line against anchors and industrial fishing gear, a growing threat amid reports of intentional cable damage in recent years.
With cloud workloads increasingly dominated by generative AI and machine-learning pipelines, AWS engineered Fastnet’s architecture to handle massive, unpredictable spikes in data flow. The company said the design will support seamless scaling for applications using Amazon CloudFront and AWS Global Accelerator.
Leaders Applaud
Fastnet also carries symbolic weight for both endpoints. “Amazon’s new transatlantic cable is a vote of confidence in Ireland’s digital future,” said Taoiseach (head of government) Micheál Martin. He noted that the cable positions Ireland as a gateway for European connectivity and reinforces the country’s economic competitiveness.
Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore, called it “an achievement bigger than broadband connectivity,” adding that it could secure the state’s standing as a hub for high-tech investment and job creation.
AWS plans to establish Community Benefit Funds in Maryland and County Cork to support local initiatives, including STEM education, sustainability programs, and workforce development. The company says it will collaborate directly with local stakeholders to determine priorities.
New Phase in Global Infrastructure
Fastnet underscores how the cloud era increasingly depends on ocean-floor engineering. Tech giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft have built or co-financed similar cables, but Amazon’s decision to fund and operate this one alone shows its intent to control more of its own digital supply chain.
The subsea build complements AWS’s broader expansion: the company now operates 38 geographic regions with 120 availability zones and has announced plans for 10 more. As global demand for cloud and AI capacity accelerates, the undersea network connecting these zones is becoming as critical as the data centers themselves.
For users of AWS services, ranging from research labs to multinational enterprises, the payoff will be greater bandwidth, lower latency, and fewer service disruptions.
Ultimately, the value of Fastnet is that it offers practical resilience: the cable helps ensure that the world’s digital economy, and the AI systems now driving it, can rely on infrastructure powerful enough to keep up.
