# AWS Wires a New US AI Route Across the Pacific > Source: > Published: 2026-09-02 20:51:58+00:00 # AWS Wires a New US AI Route Across the Pacific AWS is building a 420 Tbps cable from Japan to Washington, adding a new transpacific route as hyperscalers expand AI infrastructure. Amazon Web Services is building a 420 Tbps subsea cable between Japan and Washington state, adding a new transpacific route as hyperscalers expand the networks connecting their computing infrastructure. The Sta’O’Nuk cable will use 20 fiber pairs and enter service in 2029. AWS says it will support bandwidth-intensive applications including distributed large language model training, financial transactions, edge computing and video streaming. The project also gives AWS a new US landing point for transpacific traffic. Toptana Technologies is developing the Washington landing station, which can accommodate as many as four subsea cable systems. As AI data center capacity spreads across regions, the networks connecting that compute are becoming a larger part of the infrastructure buildout. AWS is pairing the 420 Tbps cable with a new landing station and terrestrial routes into the Pacific Northwest. But AI is adding to an infrastructure market that hyperscalers already dominated before the current AI buildout. “Even before the rise of AI investments, hyperscalers were among the primary consumers of subsea cables and capacity,” said Jimmy Yu, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. The surge in AI demand should push that market further, Yu said, driving demand for both terrestrial and submarine networks. AWS's choice of Washington also reflects the importance of connecting subsea infrastructure to major data center markets, Yu said. The landing point will improve connectivity to a key US data center hub while adding route diversity and network resilience. ## AI Puts More Pressure on Network Capacity Ron Westfall, vice president and practice lead for networking and infrastructure at HyperFrame Research, said large AI models can require terabit-scale data transport between distributed training clusters and inference locations. As hyperscalers spread computing across regions, network backhaul and interconnect capacity could become a constraint alongside power availability, Westfall said. “Network backhaul and interconnect bandwidth will increasingly act as a parallel bottleneck,” Westfall said. That creates a different infrastructure challenge from the one facing individual data centers. Power availability can determine where an operator builds a large AI facility. The network determines how effectively that facility can connect with other computing resources, cloud regions and customers. ## Washington Gets a New Cable Landing Toptana is building the Washington landing station in Ocean Shores, where the company says the facility will connect international subsea cables with terrestrial fiber. The company plans to connect the landing station to Seattle and Hillsboro, Oregon, through a terrestrial backhaul network along the Interstate 5 corridor. That will carry traffic from the coast into two of the Pacific Northwest's major data center and network markets. The landing station will initially support four subsea cable vaults and can expand to 16, according to Toptana. Toptana says the station will be the first new cable landing station in Washington in more than 25 years. The Quinault Indian Nation owns Toptana, which is developing the project as an Indigenous-owned telecommunications infrastructure facility. Assured Communications serves as the project's strategic partner, program manager and operations service provider. ## AWS Adds Another Pacific Route AWS says Sta’O’Nuk will provide geographic diversity between North America and Japan. More than 30 transpacific subsea cables currently operate between the two regions, according to AWS, with existing US landing sites concentrated along the California and Oregon coasts. A new Washington landing point gives AWS another path into the Pacific Northwest and reduces its reliance on established landing corridors. The location also connects the cable to Toptana's planned terrestrial network into Seattle and Hillsboro. That combination matters because international cable capacity has limited value if operators cannot move the traffic efficiently from the coast into the data center and network infrastructure inland. ## Hyperscalers Build the Network Too AWS has built a global network that spans more than 20 million kilometers of fiber, according to the company. Sta’O’Nuk extends that network strategy into another piece of physical infrastructure that AWS can control directly. The cable will use quantum-safe optical encryption at Layer 1, MACsec at Layer 2 and TLS, SSL or QUIC at Layer 4, AWS said. AWS also plans to armor and bury the cable in vulnerable areas, including at depths of up to 1,500 meters. The company says horizontal directional drilling will protect the cable near landing sites. AWS estimates that roughly 200 subsea cable cuts occur worldwide each year, mostly from fishing activity and dragged anchors. A new landing point provides another layer of route diversity. The last two subsea cables to land in Washington were laid in 1999, according to Data Center Dynamics. Pacific Crossing-1 landed at Harbour Pointe, while Alaska United East connected Washington with Alaska. Sta’O’Nuk will put Washington back into the transpacific cable map while giving AWS another route into the Pacific Northwest. ## The Network Becomes Part of the AI Buildout AWS's project shows how hyperscalers are extending AI infrastructure beyond the data center campus. Power generation, transmission, data center capacity, terrestrial fiber and international connectivity all support the computing capacity behind AI services. AI is adding pressure across that infrastructure stack. For network operators, the question is how much additional capacity distributed training, inference and other AI workloads will require as hyperscalers build computing capacity across multiple regions. AWS is preparing for that demand with a 420 Tbps transpacific cable, a new Washington landing site and terrestrial routes into the Pacific Northwest. The cable is only one piece of the investment. The landing station's capacity for additional systems gives AWS and future cable operators a platform for more international connectivity into the region.