Key Takeaways:
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has connected a 7,000-km subsea cable linking the U.S. to Portugal, adding capacity for surging cloud and AI workloads across the Atlantic.
Google's new Nuvem subsea cable, spanning 7,000 km with 384 Tbps of design capacity, strengthens the U.S.-Europe data corridor as hyperscalers race to build AI infrastructure on both sides of the Atlantic. The cable lands in Sines, Portugal, a town 150 km south of Lisbon that is emerging as a European data center hub.
"Nuvem was part of a wider vision for Portugal and Europe to invest in the strategic infrastructure underpinning the digital economy," Giorgia Abeltino, head of government affairs and public policy for Google Cloud EMEA, said at the cable landing ceremony.
The cable, named after the Portuguese word for "cloud," runs from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Sines via Bermuda and the Azores. It comprises 16 fibre pairs and joins two other high-capacity subsea cables already landing in Portugal — Google's Equiano cable connecting to South Africa and the EllaLink running to Brazil. Subsea cables carry more than 95% of global data traffic, according to industry data.
The landing positions Portugal as a strategic gateway for AI-driven data centers, with more than 2.6 GW of renewable energy capacity under development. The pipeline is led by the 1.2-GW Start Campus project in Sines, which is set to benefit from Microsoft's AI infrastructure investments in the country. Microsoft announced plans last year to invest $10 billion in Portugal for AI infrastructure, Bloomberg News reported.
Portugal's Atlantic coastline has made it a natural landing point for intercontinental cables, and the government is leaning into that geography. State Reform and Innovation Minister Goncalo Matias said the country aims to become a hub for data centers, AI and innovation while bolstering Europe's digital resilience.
"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," Matias said at the ceremony.
The Nuvem cable is Google's latest investment in subsea infrastructure as the company competes with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Meta Platforms to build the physical layer of the AI cloud. Each of the hyperscalers has announced tens of billions of dollars in data center capital expenditure this year, with subsea cables representing a critical bottleneck for global AI training and inference workloads that span continents.
Portugal offers an additional advantage beyond geography: low-cost renewable energy from hydro, solar and wind sources. The country's 2.6 GW of clean energy capacity under development is a key draw for data center operators facing mounting pressure from regulators and investors to power AI infrastructure sustainably. Google has committed to operating on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.
For Google, the Nuvem cable adds redundancy to its transatlantic network at a time when AI workloads are driving exponential growth in data traffic. The company's cloud revenue reached $12.3 billion in the most recent quarter, up 28% from a year earlier, as enterprises accelerate adoption of generative AI services. Google trades at about 22 times forward earnings, in line with the broader tech sector.
The cable landing also strengthens Europe's digital sovereignty ambitions. By routing data through Portugal rather than traditional hubs in the U.K. or the Netherlands, Nuvem gives European customers an alternative path for data that must remain within the region under GDPR and other local regulations. That could prove valuable as European policymakers push for greater control over data stored and processed by U.S. cloud providers.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
