Google will work with Facebook, Pacific Light Data Communication and TE Subcom to build the first direct submarine cable system between Los Angeles and Hong Kong with ultra high-capacity. The Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) will have 12,800 km of fiber and an estimated cable capacity of 120 Tbps, making it the highest-capacity trans-Pacific route, a record currently held by another Google-backed cable system, FASTER.

In other words, PLCN will provide enough capacity for Hong Kong to have 80 million concurrent HD video conference calls with Los Angeles.

This is the sixth submarine cable in which Google has an ownership stake — joining the ranks of the Unity, SJC, FASTER, MONET and Tannat projects. Google anticipates that PLCN will be operational in 2018.

PLCN is designed to accommodate evolving infrastructure technology, bringing lower latency, more security and greater bandwidth to Google's Cloud Platform as well as to Facebook users.