According to Silicon Republic, Amazon Web Services is building a new transatlantic subsea cable called Fastnet that will connect County Cork in Ireland to Maryland in the United States. The cable system is expected to be operational from 2028 and features a design capacity exceeding 320 terabits per second. Amazon has already received approval for a three-year license starting in 2025 to conduct geophysical surveys across 16,880 square kilometers off the Cork coast. The project represents a major infrastructure investment that Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin called a “vote of confidence in Ireland’s digital future.” Both Ireland and Maryland will benefit from community funds supporting sustainability, education, and workforce development programs.
AWS’s global infrastructure push
Here’s the thing about Amazon‘s subsea cable ambitions – they’re not just about moving data faster. This is about locking in AWS’s dominance in the cloud infrastructure race. Amazon claims its global fiber network already spans the distance from Earth to the Moon and back more than 11 times. That’s staggering when you think about it. But with AI workloads exploding and demanding massive data transfers, owning the pipes becomes a strategic advantage that’s hard to replicate.
So why Cork and Maryland specifically? Well, Ireland has been positioning itself as Europe’s data gateway for years, and this cable essentially makes that official. For Maryland, this is their first subsea cable ever – Governor Wes Moore called it an “achievement bigger than broadband connectivity.” Basically, Amazon is creating direct high-speed corridors between key economic regions while earning political goodwill on both sides of the Atlantic.
The long game and local benefits
Now, 2028 might seem far off, but subsea cables take years of planning and installation. The fact that surveys are starting in 2025 shows this is a meticulously planned rollout. And the community benefits funds in both locations? That’s smart corporate citizenship. By funding sustainability programs, health services, and education initiatives, Amazon builds local support while the cable gets built.
I think what’s interesting here is how Amazon is framing this not just as business infrastructure, but as economic development. They’re getting politicians to essentially endorse their expansion as regional economic strategy. Pretty clever, right? When your fiber project gets praised by both the Irish Taoiseach and a Maryland governor, you’re doing more than just laying cable – you’re weaving yourself into the economic fabric of multiple countries.
