Meta has unveiled the Petal undersea cable project, which will span approximately 7,000 km between the US and France. The cable will have a capacity of 1 Pbps, with a launch planned for 2029.
Today we’re announcing Petal: the world’s first petabit-class transoceanic subsea cable and the first to deploy multi-core fiber at scale.
Spanning 7,000 km (4,000+ mi) between France and the United States, Petal will deliver 1 Petabit per second (1 Pbps / 1,000 Tbps), doubling… pic.twitter.com/fLSWGkHDzS
— Engineering at Meta (@Meta_Engineers) September 21, 2026
According to the company, Petal will be the first transoceanic undersea cable with petabit-class capacity and the first to implement multi-core fiber at this scale.
The system will feature 24 pairs of fibers with dual cores. Meta estimates this is equivalent to 48 pairs of conventional fiber, allowing for doubled capacity without a proportional increase in energy consumption and physical infrastructure.
Petal will surpass the transatlantic cable Anjana, which has a capacity of nearly 0.5 Pbps.
NEC will provide the turnkey system and oversee the production and installation of Petal. The dual-core fiber is developed and manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries. Orange, in collaboration with Meta, will facilitate the cable’s landing on France’s Atlantic coast and its terrestrial connection to the European network.
Meta, citing the International Telecommunication Union, noted that about 99% of intercontinental traffic is carried through undersea lines.
Amazon Restricts Muse Operations
Amazon has blocked Meta’s AI assistant Muse from making purchases on its marketplace on behalf of users, a company representative told GeekWire.
Attempts to use the service trigger a warning that unauthorized digital assistant access violates the platform’s terms of use.
Amazon stated that Meta did not notify the company in advance about Muse’s operations with its store and did not obtain the necessary permissions. The platform claims the agent also fails to identify itself while interacting with the site and allegedly collects and stores user credentials.
Amazon linked this to potential privacy and security risks.
The company requested Meta to exclude Amazon from the platforms accessible to Muse.
Meta confirmed that authorization data is indeed stored within the dedicated Muse Secure VM. However, the company stated that the main AI agent does not access passwords or payment information.
Credentials are stored separately and are inserted by the system directly at the time of authorization.
A separate agent, Sentinel, is responsible for permissions on external actions. It monitors network requests, and for sensitive operations, including sending emails and making purchases, the system may request user confirmation.
Earlier, Meta introduced Muse on September 8. The digital assistant can work with browsers, email, and third-party services, fill out forms, book trips, and make purchases.
