From cable landing stations to high-capacity backhaul and AI-driven data centres, the next phase of network design demands fully integrated infrastructure.

For all the attention being paid to subsea cables today, one critical part of the story is often overlooked.

The industry has focused on improving resilience, creating new routes, and increasing capacity. But the true value of any subsea cable is realised only once that capacity lands and connects to terrestrial networks, data centres, and compute environments where it is needed. In the AI era, that challenge is becoming more important than ever.

At MOX Networks, our role sits at that intersection. We design, build, and operate high-capacity terrestrial and subsea fibre infrastructure that connects cable landing stations to major data centre markets and interconnection hubs—turning subsea capacity into usable, scalable network infrastructure. That perspective is rooted in how the company was originally formed.

MOX was founded to support the healthcare and data-driven mission of Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, for which large-scale genomic research and clinical applications required moving vast volumes of data among hospitals, universities, and compute environments. When the market could not provide the routes, scale, or flexibility required, MOX assembled a world-class team of fibre experts to build it.

That capability evolved MOX into a full carrier model. Today, we design, construct, operate, and manage fibre networks from the ground up, from permitting and engineering to construction, optical deployment, and long-term operations. What has remained constant is the nature of the challenge: understanding where data is generated, where it needs to go, and how to build infrastructure that can scale accordingly.

As all of these elements expanded across transpacific and Latin American routes, it became clear that relying solely on leased capacity was not always viable. That led us to expand into subsea bandwidth by acquiring significant capacity on Google’s Topaz and Firmina subsea cable systems.

These investments ensure capacity can be delivered successfully from end-to-end.

Backhaul is where subsea becomes useful

A landing station is only the starting point. From there, capacity must move inland, often across hundreds of miles, into key markets such as Seattle, Hillsboro, Ashburn, Chicago, Dallas, or São Paulo. This is where backhaul becomes critical.

Delivering that capacity requires carefully engineered terrestrial routes, route diversity, and high-performance optical infrastructure capable of supporting the scale and speed demanded by modern workloads.

MOX deploys the most advanced Ciena optical technologies to support these high-capacity corridors, enabling 400G and beyond across its long-haul networks. But technology alone is not enough. What matters is how infrastructure is designed to align with real-world demand. One of the defining shifts in the industry today is that network design can no longer be separated from compute.

AI workloads are fundamentally changing traffic patterns. The distinction between training and inference, and where data and compute sit, all influence how networks must be built.

At MOX, we approach this from direct experience. Our infrastructure was designed to support data-intensive healthcare applications, where patient workflows can generate unprecedented volumes of data and require rapid, distributed processing. That has shaped how we think about scale, redundancy, and future-proofing. It has also influenced our business model.

Unlike traditional carriers that build purely in response to demand, we often build ahead of it. By anticipating where capacity will be needed and investing early, we are able to support our own requirements while also bringing additional infrastructure to market. That approach provides flexibility for customers and helps address the unpredictability that defines AI-driven growth.

As subsea investment accelerates, the importance of this integrated model will only increase.

Cables connect continents, but it is the terrestrial networks behind them—the backhaul, interconnection, and metro access layers—that ultimately determine how that capacity is used and scaled.

In the AI era, success will depend not just on how much capacity is built, but on how effectively it is delivered.

To learn more, visit moxnetworks.com