Firmus Commits $300M to SUBCO’s APX East Cable

Publication Staff, Firmus
September 3, 2026

Firmus and SUBCO have announced a trans-Pacific connectivity agreement that would make Firmus a cornerstone customer on SUBCO’s APX East submarine cable once the system is built. Firmus plans to invest approximately US$300 million and obtain up to 150Tbps of dedicated capacity for 25 years. The companies say the arrangement is intended to support AI training and inference by linking Firmus’ Australian AI Factory network with the United States and wider global markets.

APX East is described as a next-generation express cable system providing an independent direct route between Australia and the United States. SUBCO says the system is being developed with current subsea cable technologies to provide capacity, resilience and performance suited to AI infrastructure requirements. For Firmus, the capacity commitment is framed as a long-term delivery path for AI tokens generated by its Australian infrastructure and served to customers outside the country.

The commercial significance is the scale, duration and AI focus of the commitment. The companies said international connectivity demand from Asia-Pacific is accelerating as AI deployments expand, because moving large volumes of data between regions is becoming as important as compute availability. SUBCO founder and co-chief executive Bevan Slattery linked the agreement to changing traffic patterns on subsea routes, while Firmus co-chief executive Tim Rosenfield characterised it as a long-term investment in Australia’s AI future.

APX East remains in development, with a Ready for Service target in the fourth quarter of 2028. SUBCO’s existing and announced portfolio includes INDIGO West, INDIGO Central, the Oman Australia Cable and SMAP, while the Bernacchi-1 extension to Tasmania is described as on track for Ready for Service in the second quarter of 2027. For this agreement, the next confirmed milestone is APX East reaching service so Firmus can use the dedicated trans-Pacific capacity. The arrangement is a capacity commitment, not notice that construction or service has started. The source gives no landing locations, supplier, installation schedule or financing breakdown for APX East beyond the investment amount, contracted capacity, term and fourth-quarter target.

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