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Samanth Subramanian on the Undersea Cables That Keep the Internet Alive | Odd Lots, Sonic AI
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Samanth Subramanian on the Undersea Cables That Keep the Internet Alive | Odd Lots
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May 13, 2026
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44:15
Interview
Samanth Subramanian on the Undersea Cables That Keep the Internet Alive | Odd Lots
From
Odd Lots
Samanth Subramanian
(Author, 'The Web Beneath the Waves', guest)
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Executive Summary
The internet's physical backbone consists of 500-550 vulnerable subsea fiber optic cables, which are frequently cut by accidents and are increasingly targeted in geopolitical conflicts.
Big Tech firms (Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft) now fund and own two-thirds of all new subsea cables, shifting control from traditional telecom consortiums to a handful of private American companies.
U.S.-China geopolitical competition is directly impacting internet infrastructure, halting new direct cable projects and fueling concerns of a "bifurcation of the internet" into separate, competing networks.
The explosive growth of AI is creating a new boom cycle for the subsea cable industry, driving massive investment to meet the accelerating demand for global data capacity.
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The Physicality of the Internet
Geopolitical Chokepoints and Strategic Vulnerabilities
11
quotes
Transcript
Key Arguments
Analysis
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Processed May 13, 2026
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