By Abhirami G

July 2 (Reuters) - A consortium including Microsoft ( MSFT )

and telecom startup Lightstorm plans to build a new undersea

cable linking India with Malaysia and Singapore as technology

firms compete to expand AI and cloud infrastructure in India,

one of the world's fastest-growing data markets.

The consortium, whose other members include Tata Communications

, Singapore Telecommunications, Singapore's

ASEAN Cableship and Japan's NEC Corporation, will construct the

I-2SEA cable to support AI, cloud and hyperscale workloads, the

companies said on Thursday.

They did not provide additional details including the

investment size.

The network will span 3,600 km and have landing stations in

Machilipatnam in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh,

where Meta and Alphabet have announced data

centers.

The cable is expected to be operational in the fourth

quarter of 2029, Lightstorm Group CEO and Managing Director

Amajit Gupta told Reuters in an interview.

The I Squared-backed company currently connects 19 AI and

cloud zones across India through terrestrial fiber cable

networks, with the new network expected to bring this number up

to 29, Gupta said.

India's operational data center capacity could double from

the current 1.4 gigawatts by 2027, based on projects under

construction, and increase five-fold by 2030 if planned projects

are fast-tracked, Macquarie Equity Research said in a report

last October.

Undersea cables carry roughly 95% of the world's internet

traffic. India currently has 17 active submarine cables with a

maximum potential capacity of 960 terabits per second, and at

least 10 more have been publicly announced, according to

TeleGeography, a telecommunications research firm.

Separately, Lightstorm plans to list in India in mid-2027, Gupta

said, without disclosing any other details. The company was

seeking a valuation of up to $1.5 billion in March, according to

a media report.