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Securing up to 150 Tbps of dedicated capacity over 25 years, the cornerstone investment links Australia's gigascale AI Factory network directly to United States cloud and AI markets.
On September 3, 2026, Australian AI infrastructure provider Firmus and submarine cable developer SUBCO announced a landmark 25-year, US$300 million (A$418 million) agreement. Under the deal, Firmus becomes the cornerstone customer for SUBCO’s planned APX East (Asia Pacific Express East) trans-Pacific subsea cable system, securing up to 150 Terabits per second (Tbps) of dedicated international bandwidth.
Targeting commercial activation in Q4 2028, APX East will supply a high-throughput, express digital highway connecting Firmus' nationwide "AI Factory" compute clusters—including green-powered sites in Tasmania and South Australia—directly to U.S. hyperscalers and AI-native developers.
1. Agreement & System Overview
| Transaction Parameter | Agreement Details |
|---|---|
| Financial Commitment | US $300 Million (~A$418 Million) 25-year capacity agreement |
| Dedicated Capacity | Up to 150 Tbps of express trans-Pacific capacity, equivalently 6 fiber pairs |
| Target Subsea Cable | APX East (Asia Pacific Express East), developed by SUBCO |
| Target Route | Direct Express Trans-Pacific link connecting Australia to the West Coast of the United States |
| Target RFS Date | Q4 2028 |
| Strategic Objective | High-capacity export of AI training and inference "tokens" from Australian compute facilities to global markets |
2. APX East Cable System: Architecture & Key Features
Developed by SUBCO, APX East (Asia Pacific Express East) is designed as Australia's first sovereign-owned, express international hypercable. Engineered to meet the urgent connectivity timeline for over 3GW of Australian AI Factories coming online before 2028, the ~13,000 km system represents a major technological milestone in trans-Pacific subsea engineering.
| Technical Parameter | APX East System Specifications |
|---|---|
| Developer & Owner | SUBCO (Founder & Co-CEO: Bevan Slattery) |
| Primary Express Route | Direct, all-deepwater path from Sydney, Australia to California, USA (San Diego / West Coast) |
| System Length & Architecture | ~13,000 km continuous optical path utilizing 16 Fiber Pairs |
| Target RFS Date | Q4 2028 (Main Trunk) | Optional Hawaii and Fiji branches planned for Q4 2029 |
| Engineering Breakthrough | World's longest continuous optical subsea route with no intermediate landings or optical regeneration nodes; engineered to support single-end power feeding in fault conditions. |
| Landing Diversity | First hypercable landing north of Sydney's heavily congested Southern Cable Protection Zone. |
| U.S. FCC Regulatory Status | Pending filing. Formal Cable Landing License (SCL-LIC) application expected between late 2026 and mid-2027, subject to standard "Team Telecom" national security review. |
By employing optical amplifiers with ~20% lower power consumption per unit, APX East covers ~13,000 km directly across the ocean floor without needing mid-route landings or power regeneration in Hawaii.
An all-deepwater transit path drastically minimizes coastal environmental friction and permitting bottlenecks, enabling a Q4 2028 RFS to match the surge in regional AI compute demand ahead of 2029–2030 competitor builds.
While formal FCC Submarine Cable Landing License filings have not yet been submitted, SUBCO plans to enter the U.S. regulatory queue 18–24 months prior to its Q4 2028 target, initiating mandatory Team Telecom interagency review.
3. The "AI Token Export" Strategy: Project Southgate
The 150 Tbps bandwidth reservation reflects a fundamental shift in subsea cable demand, driven by distributed Large Language Model (LLM) training and inference outputs:
Through its Project Southgate buildout, Firmus is constructing liquid-cooled, highly efficient AI Factories across regional Australia (e.g., Tasmania and South Australia). These facilities leverage low-cost renewable energy to power dense GPU clusters for AI model processing.
Rather than exporting raw energy or housing traditional cloud storage, Firmus treats processed AI output ("tokens") as a major export commodity. The 150 Tbps APX East pipe supplies the ultra-low latency pathway required to transport petabits of continuous token streams directly to U.S.-based customers.
4. End-to-End Infrastructure Integration: SMAP & Bernacchi-1
The APX East trans-Pacific commitment connects into Firmus and SUBCO's broader domestic subsea fiber architecture across Australia:
- Bernacchi-1 Subsea Link: Underwritten by Firmus, this upcoming Bass Strait cable connects Northern Tasmania directly into SUBCO's mainland SMAP (Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth) network, providing over 60 Tbps of initial regional backhaul.
- Sydney Cable Hub Synergy: Bernacchi-1 provides a direct route into Sydney, creating an uninterrupted physical transit path from Tasmanian AI data centers straight onto the APX East trans-Pacific express route to the United States.
4. Company Profiles & Leadership
Firmus is an Australian AI infrastructure platform company pioneering immersion-cooled, vertically integrated AI Factories that combine energy, data center engineering, GPU compute, and global subsea connectivity.
"Securing up to 150 terabits per second of dedicated capacity gives us the scale and performance to connect Australian AI infrastructure directly with the United States."
SUBCO is an independent Australian submarine cable developer behind major systems including INDIGO West, INDIGO Central, the Oman Australia Cable (OAC), and the mainland SMAP system.
"With millions of AI GPUs planned across the region in the next two to three years, generating petabits of tokens per second, AI Factories are front and centre of that need."
