When completed in 2H 2025, the Bifrost Cable System will bolster Singapore’s strategic position as Asia’s leading digital hub.

Keppel Ltd. (Keppel), is pleased to announce that the Bifrost Cable System (Bifrost), which the Company is jointly developing with Edge Cable Holdings USA, LLC (Meta) and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), has been granted a subsea cable landing license by the United States Federal Communications Commission (USFCC).

Spanning over 20,000km, Bifrost is the world’s first subsea cable system that directly connects Singapore to the west coast of North America via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea. A subsea cable landing license must be obtained prior to landing a submarine cable to connect continental United States with any foreign country. The achievement of the USFCC cable landing license marks the final approval in an extensive transnational regulatory approval process, paving the way for Bifrost’s successful deployment.

Bifrost, which commenced system commissioning and acceptance testing on 21 January 2025, is expected to be ready for commercial service in 2H 2025. As the first subsea cable system linking Southeast Asia to the United States to be approved in the past eight years, Bifrost will significantly enhance Singapore's strategic position as Asia’s leading digital hub as well as support the region’s fast-growing digital economy. Bifrost’s cable landing station in Singapore will be sited at Keppel DC REIT’s SGP 5 data centre in Jurong.

Mr Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel, said, "Achieving the USFCC's approval for the Bifrost Cable System is a significant milestone for the project. Completion of the project in 2H 2025 strengthens Keppel’s connectivity strategy. This landmark project, a testament to our strong partnership with Meta and Telin, will entrench Keppel as a strategic ecosystem partner to global cloud players and technology leaders, as we pursue our growth plans in digital infrastructure. This includes developing and operating other subsea cables linking Southeast Asia with the rest of Asia and beyond."

Bifrost is part of Keppel's end-to-end connectivity ecosystem, spanning power, off-grid solutions, green energy, cooling, subsea cable connectivity and data centre solutions. Critical digital infrastructure such as Bifrost will not only boost the performance and reliability of Keppel's data centre offerings but also position the Company at the forefront of the digital economy.

Keppel embarked on the Bifrost Cable System in March 2021 with joint build partners Meta and Telin, in which Keppel was assigned five out of a total of 12 fibre pairs with its share of cost being US$350 million. The five fibre pairs are jointly owned by Keppel and its private fund co-investors through a 40-60 joint venture. Of these, two fibre pairs have since been committed to customers through Indefeasible Rights of Use (IRU) for 25 years, while IRUs for the remaining three fibre pairs are currently being negotiated with potential customers.

Mr Loh said, “We look forward to Bifrost’s successful deployment, which will not only deliver enhanced connectivity and network diversity to our customers but also generate attractive returns for Keppel and our private fund co-investors. We have received strong customer interest in our three uncommitted fibre pairs, whose prices have risen significantly as Bifrost approaches service readiness. Consequently, the expected Internal Rate of Return for our investment has risen to over 30% p.a."

In addition, when Bifrost is completed in 2H 2025, Keppel will continue to operate and maintain its five fibre pairs over a period of 25 years, for which the Company stands to derive a stream of long-term recurring income.

Beyond Bifrost, Keppel, together with its private funds including Keppel Asia Infrastructure Fund II, are exploring opportunities to develop more cable systems connecting various geographies. These initiatives are part of Keppel's broader strategy to enhance global connectivity and provide digital infrastructure solutions, leveraging its integrated ecosystem to meet the evolving needs of countries, businesses and consumers, and deliver the best risk-adjusted returns to investors.

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Note to editors:

As a global asset manager and operator, Keppel offers investors access to critical digital infrastructure such as data centres and high-speed subsea cables, with entry points across the risk-return spectrum.

Keppel has announced ambitious plans to expand its data centre portfolio by over 500 MW to 1.2 GW in the near term. This growth will be fuelled by an expected S$10 billion in Funds under Management from the new Keppel Data Centre Fund III being raised, as well as further co-investments. With this, Keppel expects its data centre FUM to more than double from the current S$9 billion to S$19 billion.

In December 2024, Keppel signed a groundbreaking Strategic Framework Agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to collaborate on data centres, subsea cables, and renewable energy, regionally and globally. The Agreement bolsters Keppel’s position as an ecosystem player and opens doors for future partnerships with other global technology leaders.

Leveraging Keppel’s deep expertise in sustainability and connectivity solutions, the Company has also been pushing the envelope for greener data centre operations through innovative concepts such as floating data centres cooled by seawater, a 1 GW nearshore net-zero DataPark+ concept powered by renewable energy, as well as data centre designs that are optimised for the tropics.