Bifrost Cable Nears Service, Boosting Asia-US Resilience

The Bifrost subsea cable is ready for service, adding massive capacity and a new Asia-US route backed by Meta, Amazon, and regional partners

5 Jan 2026

A new subsea cable linking Southeast Asia with the US west coast has reached ready-for-service status, adding capacity and resilience to one of the world’s busiest digital corridors.

The Bifrost cable system connects Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Guam to North America along a newly built route across the Pacific. It is expected to enter commercial operations shortly, according to people involved in the project.

Designed for an estimated total capacity of about 260 terabits per second, Bifrost is intended to support rising demand for cross-border data flows between Asia and the US. The system offers round-trip latency of roughly 165 milliseconds between Singapore and the US, providing more predictable performance for cloud services and other data-heavy applications.

Demand for transpacific connectivity has been rising steadily, driven by cloud computing, video streaming, remote work and the expansion of digital platforms across Asia-Pacific. Industry executives say several existing cables are operating close to capacity, increasing the risk that outages or maintenance issues can disrupt traffic across wide areas.

Bifrost follows a different geographic path from many older transpacific systems, a design intended to reduce exposure to earthquakes, cable cuts and maritime incidents. By adding both scale and route diversity, the cable is expected to improve network reliability for large enterprises as well as consumer internet users.

The project also highlights the growing role of large technology companies in financing and shaping global network infrastructure. Bifrost is backed by a consortium that includes Meta and Amazon, reflecting a broader trend of hyperscalers investing directly in subsea cables to support their cloud and content businesses.

Keppel led the construction of the system, while Telin and Converge ICT Solutions were responsible for key landing stations and regional integration in Southeast Asia.

As policymakers and regulators debate the implications of increased private investment in critical digital infrastructure, industry participants say the immediate effect of Bifrost will be practical rather than political. With the system nearing service, the global internet gains additional capacity on a major intercontinental route at a time when demand shows little sign of slowing.