Lightstorm has launched the construction of the India-Southeast Asia submarine cable system, a 3,600-kilometer project designed to connect India, Malaysia, and Singapore as AI and cloud demand accelerates across the region. The I-2SEA cable is being developed with consortium partners Microsoft, Singtel, and Tata Communications, with NEC Corporation appointed as system supplier and ASEAN Cableship Pte Ltd as marine installation partner.
The system is expected to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2029. NEC separately confirmed that it had signed a supply contract for the I-2SEA submarine fiber-optic cable system, describing the network as a direct link between India’s growing AI and hyperscale data center clusters and major Southeast Asian cloud hubs.
I-2SEA will include Indian landing points at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh and South Chennai. Lightstorm said Machilipatnam offers a shorter subsea route toward Hyderabad, while South Chennai adds diversity to the system’s Indian landing architecture. The route is intended to strengthen connectivity between Hyderabad, Chennai, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur.
Targeting AI and Hyperscale Workloads
The cable is being positioned less as a conventional telecom route and more as infrastructure for AI, hyperscale cloud, GPU clusters, and enterprise workloads. Lightstorm said the system is designed for low-latency connectivity across the India-Southeast Asia corridor, where demand for data center capacity and cloud interconnection has intensified.
Lightstorm Group CEO and Managing Director Amajit Gupta said: “Lightstorm works around a single mission: interconnecting intelligence. As majority owner of I-2SEA and with SmartNet AI Fabric already delivering AI-ready transport across data centers and GPU clusters in India, we can now offer the natural extension of that platform into the subsea domain. 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.”
The company said I-2SEA customers will be able to connect into Lightstorm’s 30,000-kilometer terrestrial network, giving them onward reach to Hyderabad, Mumbai, and more than 80 data centers across India. Lightstorm also said the system will use carrier-neutral landing infrastructure and its Polarin platform for capacity activation, scaling, and network visibility.
Data Center Growth Sharpens the Need
The announcement comes as India’s data center market moves through a rapid expansion cycle driven by cloud adoption, AI infrastructure, and enterprise digitization. A 2025 Macquarie Equity Research estimate, summarized by IBEF, said India had about 1.4 gigawatts of operational data center capacity, with another 1.4 gigawatts under construction and about 5 gigawatts in planning.
A separate 2026 white paper by CEEW and Systemiq estimated India’s installed data center capacity had reached almost 1.5 gigawatts by mid-2025 and could rise to between 4.5 and 6.5 gigawatts by 2030. That growth is increasing the importance of resilient international connectivity, especially for workloads that require high bandwidth, redundancy, and predictable performance.
Lightstorm’s subsea expansion comes as AI infrastructure becomes more distributed, India attracts larger data center investments, and routes into Singapore and Malaysia remain central to Asia’s cloud ecosystem.
Building Toward 2029
The I-2SEA project is moving into a wider wave of submarine cable development aimed at expanding digital infrastructure across Asia. Demand for international capacity has accelerated with the growth of AI applications, cloud computing, and hyperscale data centers, placing greater emphasis on resilient, high-capacity connectivity between regional markets.
The consortium has confirmed that the system is scheduled to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2029. Once operational, the 3,600-km cable will provide a direct connection between India's east coast and key digital hubs in Singapore and Malaysia, while integrating with Lightstorm's broader terrestrial network to extend connectivity across India.
The I-2SEA project reflects a broader shift in digital infrastructure as demand for AI computing, cloud services, and large-scale data center connectivity continues to grow across the region. By strengthening links between India and Southeast Asia, the cable is intended to support the next phase of cross-border digital expansion.
