This map shows one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the world. More than 500 underwater cables running across the seabeds of the earth, from emails to bank payments to military communications. These fiber optics carry more than 95% of intercontinental data, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars a day. And they are at the center of a power struggle between the US and China. These cables, they are an appetizing target for espionage and surveillance. Here's how the US and China fight for tech dominance beneath the waves. There's so much raw information flowing around the world that existing satellite networks and wireless networks can't handle it all, making underwater fiber optic cables the main data carrier. And when it comes to installing them, the US is among the global leaders. From subsea cable analysis firm Telegeography shows that companies from Europe, the US, and Japan have installed more than 85% of the cables. But in 2008, China entered the fray, policymakers.

They see it as a very important part of its future economic success. The Chinese government has encouraged a lot of investment in companies that not only provide chips that can build these cables and make the cables themselves, but also make the equipment that processes these massive amounts of data flowing through them. Established in 2008, cable laying company Huawei Marine Networks quickly brought China into the ranks of the industry's leaders. One of its most ambitious projects is the so-called peace cable, estimated to have cost $425 million. The 15,500 miles long fiber optic network came online in 2022, connecting nearly a dozen countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe. China's investment in the submarine cable industry is part and parcel of the goals that it's seeking to advance through the Belt and Road initiative, which is to expand its economy, to improve its diplomatic relations, and also its economic ties to many countries around the world. But the peace cable could be China's last big undersea cable project.

The US is trying to prevent a small player from becoming a dominant player. The company was backed by Chinese tech giant Huawei, which became a target of Trump administration sanctions over espionage concerns. Back in 2019, US officials have said they were worried China's government could use Huawei's technologies for spying. The telecom joint refuted these concerns but sold its stakes in Huawei marine networks to a Chinese company, which rebranded it HMN Tech. This did little, however, to alleviate Washington's fears that underwater cables are increasingly vulnerable to Beijing's espionage. What US officials are worried about is that if too many Chinese companies play an active role in building and owning and maintaining these cables, they aren't going to be able to stop surveillance of some of this internet traffic, not just between the US and its allies, but among other countries around the world. In 2020, with billions of dollars of infrastructure investments at stake, Washington issued policies to exclude Chinese companies from its internet

infrastructure. We're working to ensure that the CCP can't compromise information carried by the undersea  cables that connect our country and others to the global internet. In one case, this us crackdown forced cable builders to drop plans for a direct link  between L A and Hong Kong. This is not a global ban on Chinese equipment being used in any part of the  internet. What us officials are trying to do is convince and sway not  just national governments but also private companies that are building certain cables in places  they consider very strategically important from doing so without using Chinese parts. And in 2022 the White House helped American cable lane, joint subcom secure a $600 million project that  HMN tech had been in the running for just like the Chinese built peace  cable. The new project will link Southeast Asia with Europe via the Middle East. This will be essential to meeting the growing demand for reliable security, high tech connectivity in three key regions. Of the world.

Subcom and HN Tech didn't respond to requests for comments on how much their work is influenced by government policy. Despite US efforts, the competition between Washington and Beijing is far from over. Chinese companies like HMN Tech and SBS are building new ships and they're building new factories to expand their footprint. These ships don't just build cables, they repair them. There are hundreds of cables around the world; they break all the time and they need to be fixed. There is also a shortage of these ships around the world, and the Chinese shipbuilding industry in general is expanding quicker than anywhere else around the world. So when it comes to cable repairs, a lot of the repairs in the future are probably going to be done by Chinese ships, and that has caught Washington's attention because with only around 50 ships able to carry out this sort of work across the globe, preventing Chinese involvement is a huge challenge. All of these things are part of a great power competition between the US and China.

geopolitics are just affecting the business of building these cables more than they ever have. Regardless what happens over the next few years, I think you're going to see more meddling by national governments in building these cables, and you're going to see more financial support deciding where these cables are going to run and who builds them, because it is a tough business to make money at. There's a lot at stake to government officials that want to make sure that their domestic industries succeed for decades to come.

The Hidden Battle for Fiber-Optic Supremacy | WSJ U.S. vs. China

The Wall Street Journal takes you inside carefully selected stories and events in a visually captivating way so you can dig deeper into the news and insights that matter to you. 

The Hidden Battle for Fiber-Optic Supremacy | WSJ U.S. vs. China

The Hidden Battle for Fiber-Optic Supremacy | WSJ U.S. vs. China

Scripts