Undersea Cable Fleet Gets $1 Billion Expansion
Four new cable-laying ships, scheduled for delivery in 2027 and 2028, will expand submarine capacity as cloud and AI demand grows.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Data Centers
OMS Group, a Singapore-headquartered submarine cable operator, has secured $1.0315 billion in financing facilities to fund a fleet expansion. The financing is a completed funding arrangement; the four new cable-laying vessels it supports are announced and not yet delivered, with deliveries scheduled for 2027 and 2028.
Why it matters
The financing reflects rising demand for submarine cable infrastructure driven by cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data center development. It signals that capital is flowing into the physical links underpinning global data traffic, not only into the facilities at either end.
The package is a financing arrangement rather than a technical specification, with the four newbuilds' capacity and performance not stated in the source. The fleet will grow from five active cable vessels to nine once the four new ships are delivered in 2027 and 2028.
The players
OMS Group
Singapore-headquartered submarine cable operator whose OMS Telco unit installs, repairs and maintains subsea cables and whose LitUp Network division runs cable landing stations, terrestrial backhaul and data center connectivity.
HSBC Singapore
Banking group that served as a joint global coordinator, bookrunner and ECA coordinator on the OMS financing.
Standard Chartered
Global bank that served as a joint global coordinator, bookrunner and ECA coordinator on the OMS financing.
KKR Capital Markets
Capital markets arm of the global investment firm KKR, which acted as corporate adviser on the OMS financing.
The details
Export credit agencies are government-backed institutions that insure or lend against exports, and the ECA-backed portion of this package draws on Atradius Dutch State Business and Export Finance Norway (Eksfin). That support will help pay for four newbuild cable-laying vessels, which are under construction in Haiphong, Vietnam. Once delivered, they will supplement OMS's existing fleet of five active vessels, and OMS Telco handles installation, repair, surveys and maintenance of the submarine cables those ships lay.
Timeline
2027: First two new cable-laying vessels scheduled for delivery.
2028: Remaining two new cable-laying vessels scheduled for delivery.
November 3, 2026: Financing package secured.
The Tech Race
The expansion positions OMS to extend its capabilities across the submarine cable market at a time when demand for undersea links is rising with cloud and AI build-outs. The source does not name specific competing operators or rival fleet plans, so the competitive comparison cannot be drawn further from the extraction.
The vessels will not reach service until 2027 and 2028, so the capacity gains are not available now. Users of cloud and AI services will feel any benefit only indirectly, as added submarine cable capacity comes online over the following years.
The takeaway
Submarine cable capacity is becoming a financed, scheduled build-out rather than an incidental utility, with OMS's four vessels due in 2027 and 2028. Watch for delivery of the first two ships in 2027 and for the $120 million in trade facilities to reach financial close.
Further reading
For context on the infrastructure behind cloud and AI demand, see our Data Centers coverage.
