Gulf AI plans face risks from a small number of undersea cables

In short: Gulf countries want to grow AI and cloud services, but a few undersea internet cables in risky waterways could become a weak point.

What's going on

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have spent billions on AI-related infrastructure, including large data centers. Data centers are buildings full of computers that store and process information, like giant digital warehouses.

To make those centers useful for global customers, the region needs reliable connections to Europe, the US, and Asia. Much of that connection depends on undersea cables, which are thick fiber cables laid on the ocean floor that carry data, like long distance water pipes for internet traffic.

Experts warn that the Gulf relies on a small number of routes, especially through the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. Undersea cables carry about 95 percent of international data traffic. In 2025, two cables in the Red Sea were cut, which disrupted internet connectivity across the Gulf for days and was estimated to cause $3.5 billion in losses from disrupted services.

As AI use grows, the stakes rise. AI systems often need large, constant data flows between data centers, cloud providers (companies that rent computing over the internet), and business customers. Even short outages can create real costs, so big cloud companies want multiple separate routes, not just one or two.

What to watch

Governments and telecom firms in the region are revisiting new routes to reduce reliance on these chokepoints. Examples include Stc Group’s reported $800 million plan to revive a Syria-to-Turkey land route called SilkLink, and a $700 million WorldLink project linking the UAE to Iraq and then into Turkey. Satellites may help as backup, but they carry far less data and can be slower, so cables will still matter most.

Source: Wired