The internet doesn’t run on satellites or Wi-Fi alone, it runs through a web of undersea cables stretching across the ocean floor. 99% of global internet traffic – your DMs, video calls, cat memes zips through fiber optic cables laid across ocean floors. For decades, telecom giants and governments have been the gatekeepers of these digital highways.

Now, Meta is betting $10 billion on Project Watersworth, its own 50,000-kilometer private undersea cable system connecting five continents; all to bypass middlemen, avoid geopolitical risks, and future-proof its empire in the age of AI. It’s not just about faster internet speeds. It’s about control, cost, and cutting-edge data demands. But why this specific route? Why skip entire regions? The answers reveal a high-stakes game of bandwidth, AI dominance, and geopolitical survival.

The Bandwidth Bottleneck: Paying the Toll

Imagine the internet as a global highway system. 99% of all internet traffic travels via these subsea fibers. Giants like AT&T built empires on them; governments treat them as strategic assets. Every second, they carry petabytes of data – that's millions of gigabytes, equivalent to over 200 million iPhone photos flashing by in a blink.

Meta, responsible for a staggering 10% of global fixed internet traffic and 22% of mobile traffic (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), is utterly dependent on renting space on these cables. Every post, ad, and video call competes for bandwidth controlled by others. The toll? Estimates suggest Meta pays tens, potentially hundreds, of millions of dollars annually just to keep its apps running. Worse, they're at the mercy of the cable owners for priority and reliability.

A mere few-hour Facebook outage recently cost Meta $100 million in lost ad revenue. Renting bandwidth isn't just expensive; it's a vulnerability. Watersworth is Meta's answer: an express lane where its traffic gets top priority, no middlemen, no buffering, potentially fewer outage nightmares.

Following the Tech Giants' Playbook (But Playing Catch-Up)

Meta isn't pioneering this strategy; it's catching up in an undersea land grab:

The motivation is universal: control over data destiny. Owning the pipe guarantees capacity, speed, and resilience critical for their services. However, ownership comes with burdens. Every cable break (often costing millions to repair), slowdown, or maintenance headache falls squarely on Meta. They also still need local ISPs to provide the "on-ramps" connecting users to their private highway. It's a complex trade-off, but for Meta, whose apps are the attention economy, the control over user experience is paramount.

The Watersworth Route: A Geopolitical Minefield Avoided

Look at Watersworth's planned landing points: USA -> Brazil -> South Africa -> India -> Australia -> USA. Notice the omissions? It conspicuously avoids:

Undersea cables aren't just infrastructure; they're strategic weapons, targets, and bargaining chips.

Meta's chosen route isn't random geography; it's a carefully calculated dodge of geopolitical flashpoints. Watersworth aims to be resilient by steering clear of waters where cables "mysteriously" break.

The AI Imperative: Fueling the Future Empire

Bandwidth savings and outage prevention are compelling, but Watersworth hints at Meta's colossal future bet: Artificial Intelligence. Training massive AI models like Llama isn't streaming a movie; it's moving entire digital libraries across continents.

This requires staggering, low-latency bandwidth. In the AI arms race, milliseconds matter. Owning a direct, high-capacity pipe is a critical competitive advantage.

Every mile of Watersworth fiber isn't just about today's social feeds; it's infrastructure paving the way for Meta's AI ambitions – an empire built on data flow.

Conclusion: The Unseen Backbone of Power Project Watersworth is far more than a cable.

It's a $10 billion statement:

While data centers grab headlines, the real, enduring power lies beneath the waves. Meta's massive bet underscores a fundamental truth: Whoever controls the plumbing controls the flow of the digital world. Watersworth is Meta's bid to own its destiny, one kilometer of fiber at a time, while carefully charting a course through the treacherous waters of global politics. The race for the ocean floor is the new frontier in tech supremacy.

References

https://engineering.fb.com/2025/02/14/connectivity/project-waterworth-ai-subsea-infrastructure/

https://www.waterworthproject.com/

https://nypost.com/2021/10/05/facebook-lost-up-to-100m-in-revenue-amid-sweeping-outage-data/

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/learn-about-googles-subsea-cables

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/introducing-the-nuvem-subsea-cable