Sta’O’Nuk: How a new transpacific subsea cable will reshape cloud connectivity between North America and Japan

This article announces AWS's development of Sta'O'Nuk, a new transpacific subsea cable connecting the United States and Japan with 420 terabits per second capacity, expected to launch in 2029.

• Uses new landing points in Washington state and Japan to create independent network path separate from congested existing corridors
• Delivers capacity across 20 fiber pairs using latest-generation subsea transmission equipment and advanced optical technology
• Designed with geographic diversity and intelligent traffic management to automatically reroute traffic during disruptions
• Protected by multi-layer encryption from Layer 1 quantum-safe optical encryption through Layer 4 TLS/SSL protocols
• Cable armored and buried up to 1,500 meters deep; landing zones use horizontal directional drilling to minimize environmental impact
• Developed in collaboration with Quinault Indian Nation, whose name "Sta'O'Nuk" (lightning serpent) reflects cultural heritage
• Engineered to support high-throughput, low-latency applications including financial transactions, edge computing, and AI model training

Sta'O'Nuk represents AWS's commitment to building resilient, secure, and environmentally responsible global infrastructure for the next 25 years.