Meta’s New Undersea Bet Ripples Across APAC

Meta, SoftBank, and NEC advance APAC subsea cable plans designed to enhance regional speed, resilience, and data flow

8 Dec 2025

A quiet change is forming far beneath Asia Pacific’s shipping routes. Candle, Meta’s latest subsea cable, is still unfinished. Yet it already shapes arguments about who will define the region’s digital map. The project marks a clear shift: global tech firms, not legacy carriers, are now steering decisions about long-haul infrastructure.

Candle will run roughly 8,000km and link six markets that seldom enjoy equal weight in regional routes: Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Engineers say the design reflects swelling demand from AI systems, cloud platforms and endless streaming. A Meta connectivity lead calls the build preparation for the next decade of digital growth and stresses the need for more varied and resilient corridors.

SoftBank views its role as both strategic and regional. It argues that Asia’s fast-moving economies need sturdier digital foundations, less reliance on ageing cables and closer alignment with new rules governing data. Analysts say these rules, combined with fears of outages and geopolitical tension, have sped up investment. One consultant says organisations simply want faster, safer flows with clearer local oversight, needs Candle hopes to meet.

NEC, the supplier, says the architecture aims to survive physical shocks and handle heavier traffic. Recent failures in older systems have shown how fragile some routes remain. Designers expect Candle to shorten recovery times and reinforce weak spots, though evidence will come only once it is live.

The project also fuels debate over how far hyperscalers should reach into global infrastructure. Even so, industry reaction is mostly upbeat. If Candle performs as planned, users could see smoother cross-border links, lower latency for cloud and AI tools, and routes that bend rather than break under strain. With regional digital activity already near record highs, Candle is part of a new wave of cables that may reset how Asia Pacific stays connected, quietly, along the seabed.