Google Expands Transatlantic AI Infrastructure

Alphabet’s Google has successfully connected a new transatlantic subsea cable to Sines in Portugal, it said on Tuesday, adding another US-Europe data route as demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services surges. Google’s Nuvem, named after the Portuguese word for “cloud”, links Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with Sines, south of Lisbon, via Bermuda and the Azores.

The Nuvem cable system, which spans about 7,000 km, comprises 16 fibre pairs with a total design capacity of around 384 terabits per second. Giorgia Abeltino, head of government affairs and public policy for Google Cloud EMEA, said Nuvem was part of a wider vision for Portugal and Europe to invest in the strategic infrastructure underpinning the digital economy. Subsea cables form the backbone of the world wide web, carrying more than 95 percent of global data traffic.

Two high-capacity subsea cables already link Portugal with other continents — the Google-owned Equiano cable that runs to South Africa via other African countries, and the EllaLink that runs to Brazil from Sines. State Reform and Innovation Minister Goncalo Matias said Nuvem was part of a broader strategy to make Portugal a hub for data centers, AI and innovation, while bolstering Europe’s digital resilience and sovereignty. “Portugal is becoming what geography always invited us to be — the Atlantic gateway of Europe, the meeting point of three continents: Europe, Africa, and the Americas,” he said at the cable landing ceremony.