Meta has announced its ambitious Petal project, which involves constructing a submarine cable stretching approximately 7,000 kilometers between the United States and France. This cable will boast a remarkable capacity of 1 Petabit per second, with plans for its launch set for 2029.

Today we’re announcing Petal: the world’s first petabit-class transoceanic subsea cable and the first to deploy multi-core fiber at scale.

Spanning 7,000 km (4,000+ mi) between France and the United States, Petal will deliver 1 Petabit per second (1 Pbps / 1,000 Tbps), doubling… pic.twitter.com/fLSWGkHDzS

— Engineering at Meta (@Meta_Engineers) September 21, 2026

According to Meta, the Petal cable will be the first transoceanic undersea cable with petabit-class capacity, as well as the first to utilize multi-core fiber on such a large scale.

The system will feature 24 fiber pairs, each containing two cores, which Meta estimates is equivalent to having 48 pairs of standard optical fiber in terms of capacity. This innovative design allows for a doubling of capacity without a corresponding increase in energy consumption or physical infrastructure.

Petal is set to surpass the capacity of the Anjana transatlantic cable, which has a capacity of nearly 0.5 Petabits per second.

Growth of capacity in transatlantic undersea cables. Source: Meta.

NEC will provide a turnkey system for the project, responsible for manufacturing and laying the Petal cable. Sumitomo Electric Industries has developed and will produce the dual-core optical fiber. Additionally, Orange, in collaboration with Meta, will facilitate the cable's landing on the Atlantic coast of France and its connection to the European network.

Meta noted, citing the International Telecommunication Union, that about 99% of intercontinental traffic is transmitted via undersea cables.

Amazon Limits Capabilities of Meta's Muse

Amazon has restricted Meta's AI agent, Muse, from making purchases on its marketplace on behalf of users, as confirmed by a company representative to GeekWire.

When users attempt to use the service, they receive a warning indicating that access by an unauthorized digital assistant violates the platform's terms of service.

Amazon stated that Meta did not inform them in advance about Muse's operation on its site and did not obtain the necessary permission. The platform also claimed that the agent does not identify itself while interacting with the website and allegedly collects and stores user credentials.

Amazon linked this issue to potential privacy and security risks.

The company has requested that Meta remove Amazon from the list of platforms accessible to Muse.

Meta acknowledged that authorization data is indeed stored within a dedicated virtual machine called Muse Secure VM. However, the company asserts that the main AI agent does not have access to passwords or payment information.

User credentials are stored separately and are input by the system only at the time of authorization.

A separate agent named Sentinel is responsible for permissions regarding external actions. It monitors network requests and, for sensitive operations such as sending emails and making purchases, the system may require user confirmation.

Notably, Meta introduced Muse on September 8. This digital assistant is capable of working with browsers, email, and third-party services, filling out forms, booking trips, and making purchases.