Japan is preparing to designate subsea cables as a national security priority, with government subsidies set to help NEC Corporation acquire its own fleet of cable-laying vessels. The move highlights growing concerns over the vulnerability of undersea communications infrastructure amid intensifying geopolitical competition.
NEC, one of the world’s top suppliers and installers of fiber-optic cables, has, until now, relied on leased and chartered ships, including a Norwegian vessel contracted in 2022. By contrast, its major rivals—U.S.-based SubCom, France’s state-owned Alcatel Submarine Networks, and China’s HMN Tech, a former Huawei unit—all operate their own fleets, giving them a strategic edge in project control and deployment.
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Officials in Tokyo are considering subsidies worth hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially covering half the cost of each specialized vessel, which can exceed USD 300 million. The first ship could be operational by 2027 if the plan proceeds.
The initiative comes as demand for undersea cables surges, fueled by the expansion of cloud services, video streaming, and AI workloads. Subsea cables carry more than 95% of international data traffic, making them crucial to global commerce and national security. Japan is particularly focused on securing routes in the Indo-Pacific, where NEC already dominates installations and has laid more than 400,000 kilometers of cables worldwide.
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Security concerns are central to the shift. Subsea networks have become targets of suspicion following incidents of suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan. NEC also specializes in armored cables, designed to withstand tampering and accidental damage, which Tokyo sees as an added layer of resilience.
Analysts note that ownership of vessels will bring NEC in line with global competitors, but warn that high costs and idle periods between projects could weigh on profitability. Even so, Japan sees the investment as vital to ensure control over infrastructure that underpins both its digital economy and national defense.
