Google Cloud will deploy a submarine fiber cable running between the UK, Spain, and the US.

Named after computer scientist and US Navy Rear Admiral Grace Brewster Murray Hopper, the cable joins Google's Curie, Dunant, and upcoming Equiano projects.

Built by American submarine cable company SubCom, Grace Hopper is expected to be online in 2022, be equipped with 16 fiber pairs, and support 350 Tbps.

New Google cable

Grace Hopper (1906–1992) was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first linkers. The Cray XE6 at NERSC was named after her, and during her lifetime Hopper was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world.

Once complete, Grace Hopper will be the first cable to connect the US and UK since 2003. This is the first Google investment into a private submarine cable to the UK and the company’s first-ever private route to Spain. When established, the Spanish landing station will feed into Google’s planned Cloud region in Madrid.

The cable will run from New York to Bude, UK, and Bilbao, Spain.

In the announcement video, Jayne Stowell, Google’s strategic negotiator, said the cable will also be linked to Equiano to better connect North America and Africa.

The length of the Hopper cable has not been released but it is likely within the ballpark of around 6,600km (4,100 miles) which is the length of the Dunant cable that runs from the US to France, a similar route.

Grace Hopper will also use fiber switching to better move traffic through outages and negotiate around network problems. Grace Hopper will be the world’s first submarine cable to use this and Google says this will be a feature in its future cable projects.