Microsoft-led consortium to build undersea cable connecting India, Malaysia, Singapore
A consortium of technology and telecom companies, including Microsoft, Singtel, Tata Communications, and Lightstorm, has announced plans to build a submarine cable system linking India, Malaysia, and Singapore. The project, named I-2SEA, aims to address the growing demand for data capacity driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing in the India–Southeast Asia corridor.
According to a statement from Lightstorm, the cable will connect India's east coast—home to rapidly expanding AI and hyperscale data centre clusters in Hyderabad and Chennai—directly to Singapore, a regional cloud interconnect and AI hub, as well as Malaysia's emerging data centre corridor in Kuala Lumpur. The system will have two landing points in India: one at Machilipatnam, providing the shortest subsea access to Hyderabad, and another at a new diverse landing location in South Chennai.
The consortium will operate under a joint build agreement. NEC Corporation has been appointed as the system supplier, and ASEAN Cableship (ACPL) as the marine installation partner. The system is now open for capacity commitments, though no investment details have been disclosed.
I-2SEA is targeted to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2029. The cable will span approximately 3,600 kilometres from Singapore to Machilipatnam, with onward connectivity to Hyderabad. Lightstorm stated that it is expected to deliver the fastest transmission on the Singapore/Malaysia–Hyderabad corridor, which is considered the most strategically critical city pair for AI workloads in the region.
Lightstorm will operate the cable system's Indian landing stations and provide unified network management through its SmartNet AI Fabric and Polarin platform. The system will feature an interoperable cable architecture and carrier-neutral landing infrastructure at both Indian landing points. “On our network, AI regions across India, Malaysia, and Singapore will be connected by a single, purpose-built end-to-end system engineered for the performance and scale that AI infrastructure requires,” said Amajit Gupta, Group CEO and Managing Director of Lightstorm.
The project underscores the increasing importance of submarine cables in supporting digital economies and the surging data traffic from AI applications. No timeline for construction commencement has been specified beyond the contract signing.
