Developers of MViSTA, a U.S.-backed submarine cable system connecting Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand, expect to select either Japan’s NEC or France’s Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) as their cable supplier later this month, according to Reuters.

The planned 2,500-km system will have 16 fibre pairs, cost approximately $400 million and enter service in late 2028, Mark Procter, deputy head of Stavian High Tech Infrastructure, told Reuters. The company, a unit of Vietnam’s Stavian Group, is one of the project’s developers.

Suppliers, ownership and U.S. involvement:

Chinese suppliers were excluded from the bidding process, and the cable’s route was designed to avoid the extensive area claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea, Procter said. U.S. supplier SubCom was invited to participate but declined because of existing commitments.

The project’s shareholders include Stavian, Tokyo-based investment firm Midas Capital and LitUp Network, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s OMS Group. LitUp Network will be responsible for laying the cable, according to Procter, who also serves as chief operating officer of the special-purpose vehicle established to develop and operate MViSTA.

APTelecom, a consultancy working with the U.S. government on cable infrastructure, helped assemble the shareholder group, worked on the feasibility study and is helping secure customers for both the cable and a related data-center campus.

ASN declined to comment on an ongoing tender, while NEC did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Additional international connectivity for Vietnam:

MViSTA would add connectivity for Vietnam, where recurring submarine cable outages have highlighted the need for additional international routes. The country plans to increase its submarine cable connections from six to at least 15 by 2030. Procter said the Vietnamese government accelerated approval procedures for MViSTA.

The project also illustrates the competing technology relationships Vietnam must navigate. Washington has pressed Hanoi to avoid Chinese suppliers in submarine cables, telecommunications and AI infrastructure, citing security concerns. Vietnam nevertheless awarded Huawei and ZTE contracts for parts of its 5G rollout last year, raising concerns among U.S. and European officials.

Cable-linked hyperscale and AI campus:

Stavian plans to connect MViSTA to a new data-center campus in southern Vietnam intended for hyperscale cloud and AI infrastructure operators. Procter said no Chinese company would be involved in any key technology deployed at the campus.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency is funding a feasibility study, scheduled for completion in March 2027. The study will assess trusted-technology deployment and whether U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports could affect the proposed 1-GW development.

The cable-linked campus could help address infrastructure constraints that have limited major U.S. technology companies’ data-center investment in Vietnam. However, the campus remains subject to feasibility assessment, and investment decisions will also depend on Vietnam’s regulatory framework. Industry groups have identified restrictions on cross-border data flows as a significant barrier.