Once commissioned, it will be one of the tech giant’s first new cables to connect the US and UK since 2003, aimed at increasing capacity and helping drive some of Google’s core services, such as video communication platform Meet, Gmail and Google Cloud.
It has been named after computer science pioneer Grace Hopper, best known for her work on one of the first linkers.
Grace Hopper joins Google’s Curie, Dunant and Equiano cables along the ocean floor, where 98% of the world’s internet traffic flows.
The technology will use 16 fibre pairs which Google says is a “significant upgrade to the internet infrastructure connecting the US with Europe”, stretching from New York to Bude in north-east Cornwall and Bilbao in northern Spain.
It is the first time Google has invested in a subsea cable route to Spain.
The project is expected to be completed in 2022.
Bikash Koley, vice president of Google Global Network, said: “Private subsea cables allow us to plan effectively for the future capacity needs of our customers and users around the world, and add a layer of security beyond what’s available over the public internet.”
