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Part 0: Read This First | PART 1: THE UNDERSEA CABLE EMPIRE | Part 2: Satellite Sovereignty | Part 3: DNS Dictatorship | Part 4: Payment Rails | Part 5: The Cloud Is Someone's Computer | Part 6: Credential Wars
Part 1: The Undersea Cable Empire
99% of Intercontinental Data Travels Through Cables You've Never Heard Of
On February 24, 2024, four undersea internet cables in the Red Sea were mysteriously severed within hours of each other. The cuts disrupted 25% of traffic between Asia and Europe—rerouting terabytes of data through alternative routes, slowing internet speeds across three continents, and costing an estimated $10 million per day in economic losses. Western media briefly covered it as a shipping accident. The Houthis claimed responsibility, calling it retaliation for Gaza. Repair ships were dispatched but faced weeks-long delays navigating conflict zones. The cuts were fixed. Traffic resumed. The story disappeared. But here's what nobody talked about: those four cables—SEACOM, TGN-Gulf, Asia-Africa-Europe-1, and Europe India Gateway—are among 552 undersea cables that carry 99% of all intercontinental internet traffic. Not satellites. Not wireless networks. Cables. Physical fiber optic lines lying on the ocean floor, some no thicker than a garden hose, transmitting 10+ terabits per second. Every email you send to another continent. Every video call across oceans. Every stock trade, banking transaction, military communication, diplomatic cable. All of it flows through these submarine cables. And almost nobody knows they exist. This is the most critical infrastructure on Earth. It's also the most vulnerable. The Red Sea incident wasn't an anomaly—it was a preview. Welcome to the undersea cable empire.
The Cable Reality: The Internet's Invisible Backbone
Let's start with what most people get wrong about the internet.
Myth: The internet is wireless, distributed, cloud-based, satellite-connected.
Reality: The internet is 552 cables lying on the ocean floor, owned by identifiable corporations and governments, concentrated through specific geographic chokepoints, vulnerable to cutting, tapping, and sabotage.
The numbers are staggering:
- 552 active submarine cables (as of January 2026)
- 1.4 million kilometers total length (enough to circle Earth 35 times)
- 99%+ of intercontinental internet traffic flows through these cables
- $10+ trillion in daily financial transactions depends on them
- 95% of international voice and data communications travels through them
Satellites carry less than 1% of intercontinental data. They're too slow (latency), too expensive (bandwidth costs), and too low-capacity (compared to fiber optic). Starlink and other LEO constellations are impressive for remote connectivity, but for moving massive data between continents, cables are irreplaceable.
A single modern submarine cable can carry 200+ terabits per second. That's the equivalent of transmitting the entire Library of Congress in under one second. Multiple times. Continuously.
TOTAL GLOBAL CABLES: 552
• Atlantic routes: ~180 cables
• Pacific routes: ~145 cables
• Indian Ocean routes: ~95 cables
• Intra-regional: ~132 cables
DATA CARRIED:
• Intercontinental traffic: 99%+
• Satellite traffic: <1%
• Total capacity: 1,000+ petabits/sec
FINANCIAL DEPENDENCY:
• Daily SWIFT transactions: $5+ trillion
• Stock exchanges: $200+ billion/day
• Cloud data sync: Exabytes/day
VULNERABILITY:
• Cable cuts/year: ~200 (mostly accidental)
• Suspicious cuts (2023-2025): 12+
• Repair time: 2-4 weeks average
• Global repair ships: ~60
CONCLUSION:
The entire global internet depends on infrastructure
that could fit in a warehouse if coiled up.
Sitting undefended on the ocean floor.
Who Owns the Cables?
Undersea cables used to be owned by telecom monopolies. That model is dying. The new model: tech giants own the infrastructure directly.
Current ownership (2026):
- Google: Owns or co-owns 33+ cables
- Meta: Co-owns 16+ cables
- Microsoft: Co-owns 12+ cables
- Amazon: Co-owns 9+ cables
- Traditional telecoms: ~60% of cables
- Governments/state-owned: ~15%
Why the shift? Tech giants realized renting bandwidth creates vulnerability. If YouTube accounts for 15% of global traffic, Google doesn't want to depend on telecoms that could prioritize competitors or raise prices.
Solution: Own the pipes.
Example: Google's Dunant cable (2020), Virginia to France, cost $600 million. Google owns it outright. Capacity: 250 terabits/second—more than the entire internet carried in 2000.
TOOL: Submarine Cable Map
submarinecablemap.com
Interactive map showing all 552+ active cables, routes, landing points, owners, capacity.
CABLES TO TRACK:
• PEACE Cable: China-led, bypasses Western routes
• SeaMeWe-6: Major Asia-Europe route
• Marea: Microsoft/Meta transatlantic
• AAE-1: Hit in 2024 Red Sea incident
Spend 20 minutes here and you'll understand global internet infrastructure better than 99% of people.
The Chokepoint Map
Cables concentrate through specific chokepoints. You don't need to cut all 552 cables—just hit 5-7 critical points.
1. SUEZ CANAL / RED SEA
• Cables: 16+ major routes
• Traffic: ~25% Asia-Europe connectivity
• Vulnerability: Shallow water, conflict zone
• Incident: 4 cables cut Feb 2024
2. STRAIT OF MALACCA
• Cables: 12+ routes
• Traffic: ~40% Asia-Europe
• Vulnerability: Heavy ship traffic, 118 km narrow
• No viable alternative for this volume
3. TAIWAN STRAIT
• Cables: 8+ routes
• Traffic: Taiwan-mainland, Japan-SEA
• Vulnerability: 180 km wide, military tension
• Multiple cuts during earthquakes/incidents
4. LUZON STRAIT
• Cables: 10+ routes
• Traffic: Japan-SEA, US-Asia
• Vulnerability: Seismic, disputed waters
5. ENGLISH CHANNEL
• Cables: 20+ transatlantic/Europe
• Traffic: US-Europe hub
• Vulnerability: Heavy traffic, shallow
CONCLUSION:
Cut cables at 3-4 chokepoints simultaneously
and you fragment global internet for weeks.
The Cable Cold War: US vs. China
For decades, cable routes followed a Western-designed network. China is building alternatives.
China's PEACE Cable Strategy
The PEACE Cable (Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe) is China's flagship alternative.
PEACE specs:
- Route: China → Pakistan → Djibouti → Egypt → France
- Length: 15,000 km
- Capacity: 200 terabits/second
- Owner: PCCW & China Telecom
- Operational: 2022
Strategic significance: Bypasses Malacca, Suez, and Western-controlled landing points. Every landing is Chinese territory or Belt & Road partner.
US Response: The "Clean Network"
2020: Trump administration launched "Clean Network" to exclude Chinese telecoms from US cable projects.
Results:
- Hong Kong-Guam cable blocked
- Pacific Light Cable Network denied permits
- US pressured allies to deny Chinese landing rights
Problem: Blocking doesn't build alternatives. US denied Chinese participation but didn't fund replacements. China kept building.
GOOGLE: $5+ billion in cables
META: $3+ billion
MICROSOFT: $2+ billion
AMAZON: $1.5+ billion
CHINA (Telecom/Mobile/PCCW): $8+ billion
TRADITIONAL TELECOMS: ~$10 billion/year
TOTAL MARKET: ~$30 billion/year
Projected growth: 15-20% annually through 2030
TAKEAWAY:
Tech giants + China outspending everyone else.
The internet's physical layer is being redrawn.
The Repair Ship Problem
Only ~60 cable repair ships exist globally. When cables break, specialized vessels are needed with cable storage tanks, ROVs for 8,000+ meter depths, and splicing equipment.
Global repair fleet:
- US/allied ships: ~35
- Chinese ships: ~15 (expanding)
- Others: ~10
Repair time: 2-4 weeks average, up to 6+ weeks for deep ocean.
The vulnerability: If 20 cables were cut simultaneously, the repair fleet couldn't respond fast enough. Repairs would take months.
Most repair ships are NATO-flagged. Would they repair Chinese cables during conflict?
Historical Parallel: WWI Telegraph Cables
Britain controlled 80% of undersea telegraph cables. When WWI started, Britain's first military action was cutting Germany's cables.
August 5, 1914: British ship "Telconia" cut five German transatlantic cables. Within a week, all German overseas telegraph communication was severed.
Germany was forced to route through neutral countries. Britain intercepted everything.
The Zimmermann Telegram (1917): Germany's proposal to Mexico was intercepted because Germany had to use British-controlled routes. The telegram brought the US into WWI.
THE LESSON:
Control of communications infrastructure is military power. Britain won the cable war before the shooting war started.
2026 PARALLEL:
Undersea internet cables are modern telegraph cables. In any US-China conflict, the first move will be: cut cables. Just like 1914.
The Alternative Scenario
TRIGGER: 15 cables cut at 5 chokepoints simultaneously. Attribution unclear.
HOUR 0-6:
• Asia-Europe traffic drops 60-70%
• Taiwan connectivity drops 80%
• Transatlantic reroutes cause congestion
• Global speeds slow 40-60%
• Cloud services experience latency spikes
• Stock markets delay trades
DAY 1-7:
• Financial markets implement circuit breakers
• Businesses shift to regional data centers
• Video streaming quality degrades globally
• Repair ships mobilize (4-week ETA minimum)
• Geopolitical blame game begins
WEEK 2-8:
• Internet fragments into regional zones
• Some countries implement emergency traffic prioritization
• Alternative routes (satellite) become saturated
• Economic losses: $50+ billion/week
• Repairs begin but take months for all cables
AFTERMATH:
• Countries accelerate redundant infrastructure
• Calls for cable security treaties (unlikely to succeed)
• Tech giants invest billions in alternative routes
• The "borderless internet" era officially ends
This isn't hypothetical. Militaries have war-gamed exactly this scenario.
Conclusion: The Pipes Are Power
The undersea cable empire reveals a fundamental truth about digital power: infrastructure matters more than content.
Everyone watches TikTok debates, platform regulations, content moderation fights. Almost nobody watches the cables.
But the cables are where the actual power lives:
- Control the cables = control what data flows
- Own the landing points = surveil traffic
- Build alternative routes = escape dependency
- Deploy repair ships = determine who gets fixed
- Cut strategically = fragment the internet
China understands this. They're building the PEACE cable, investing $8+ billion in alternative routes, expanding their repair fleet.
Tech giants understand this. Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon are owning cables outright instead of renting bandwidth.
The only people who don't understand this are the ones watching the wrong thing—the content flowing through the pipes instead of the pipes themselves.
The cloud doesn't live in the sky. It lives on the ocean floor. In 552 cables. Owned by specific entities. Vulnerable to specific attacks. And critical to everything we think of as "the internet."
Next: Part 2 - The Satellite Sovereignty Race (When cables can be cut, satellites become the backup. But who controls orbit?)
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