The US technology giant has finalised a subsea connection between Portugal and the US mainland to support the escalating demand for AI and cloud services.
Google strengthens trans-Atlantic infrastructure with new Portugal-US cable
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Alphabet’s Google has officially established a new transatlantic fibre-optic cable, linking Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with Sines, Portugal. Named Nuvem – the Portuguese word for “cloud” – the cable extends approximately 7,000 kilometres across the Atlantic, passing through Bermuda and the Azores.
The Portugal-US cable incorporates 16 fibre pairs capable of delivering a total design capacity of roughly 384 terabits per second, according to media reports. This development addresses the surging requirement for high-speed data transmission, as subsea cables continue to serve as the critical foundation for more than 95 percent of international data traffic.
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Giorgia Abeltino, Google Cloud’s head of government affairs and public policy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, described the Portugal-US cable as an essential component in a broader strategic initiative to bolster the digital economy.
Background to the Portugal-US cable
The installation aligns with Portugal’s national objective to evolve into a major hub for data centres, AI development, and technological innovation. Gonçalo Matias, the Portuguese minister for innovation, noted that the project was instrumental in enhancing European digital sovereignty and resilience.
During the inauguration, the US Ambassador to Portugal, John Arrigo, highlighted the project as evidence of a strengthening partnership between the two nations.
Arrigo projected that the country could attract more than US$40 billion in American technology investment by 2031, positioning Portugal as the primary European centre for US-backed AI infrastructure. Currently, Portugal has over 2.6 gigawatts of data centre capacity in the pipeline, anchored by the 1.2-gigawatt Start Campus development in Sines, which is supported by the American investment firm Davidson Kempner.
