A consortium comprising Microsoft, Lightstorm, Singtel and Tata Communications will develop the India Southeast Asia (I-2SEA) submarine cable system to strengthen digital connectivity between India, Malaysia and Singapore. Scheduled to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2029, the new subsea cable will provide additional capacity for cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and enterprise data traffic across one of Asia’s fastest-growing digital corridors. NEC Corporation has been appointed as the system supplier, while ASEAN Cableship will undertake marine installation.
The I-2SEA system will feature landing stations at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh and South Chennai, providing a direct east coast connection to Southeast Asia while extending connectivity through Lightstorm’s 30,000-km terrestrial fibre network to Hyderabad, Mumbai and more than 80 data centres across India. Designed for hyperscalers, GPU infrastructure providers and enterprise customers, the cable will support AI training and inference workloads through high-capacity, low-latency connectivity. The project will also incorporate deep cable burial technology to enhance resilience and network reliability.
The development is expected to strengthen digital infrastructure linking India with Southeast Asia while supporting the growing demand for AI-ready connectivity, cloud services and data centre expansion. By providing an additional high-capacity route between India, Malaysia and Singapore, the I-2SEA system will improve network redundancy, reduce congestion at existing landing stations and reinforce the region’s position as a key digital and AI infrastructure hub.