Tanshui, Taiwan

Tanshui, Taiwan: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Tanshui is a submarine cable landing point located on the northern coast of Taiwan. As an island nation, Taiwan's international and domestic connectivity depends entirely on submarine cable infrastructure, and Tanshui stands as one of the most significant nodes in that network. Eight submarine cables land at Tanshui, making it one of the busiest landing points in the country and placing it in the top 95% of Taiwan's 21 landing points by cable count.

The cables terminating at Tanshui span an exceptionally wide geographic range. Several of the largest systems connect Taiwan to destinations across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States, enabling intercontinental connectivity across the Pacific as well as regional links throughout the Asia-Pacific corridor. Domestically oriented cables also land here, connecting Taiwan's outlying island territories. Among the most prominent systems are the EAC-C2C, a 36,500 km cable reaching China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea, and the Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) Cable System, which extends eastward to the United States.

Cables Landing at Tanshui

EAC-C2C is a 36,500 km cable that entered service in 2002. It connects Taiwan with China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea, forming one of the longest ring systems in the Asia-Pacific region.

APCN-2 spans 19,000 km and reached ready-for-service status in 2001. The cable links Taiwan with China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea, covering a broad range of intra-Asia connectivity.

Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) Cable System extends 17,968 km and entered service in 2008. It connects Taiwan with China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, providing a direct transpacific route from Tanshui to North America.

FASTER is an 11,629 km cable that became ready for service in 2016. It links Taiwan with Japan and the United States, adding a second transpacific corridor from this landing point.

Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 (SJC2) spans 10,500 km with a ready-for-service date of 2025. The cable connects Taiwan with China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, extending the reach of Tanshui into Southeast Asia.

Taiwan Penghu Kinmen Matsu No.2 (TPKM2) is a 467 km domestic cable that entered service in 2000. It connects different parts of Taiwan's island territories, providing inter-island links within the country.

Taiwan-Matsu No.4 is a 300 km domestic cable with a projected ready-for-service year of 2026. It connects Taiwan's outlying Matsu islands to the main island network.

Taiwan Strait Express-1 (TSE-1) is a 260 km cable that entered service in 2013. It connects Taiwan with China across the Taiwan Strait.

Regional Context

Among Taiwan's 21 submarine cable landing points, Tanshui ranks as a major hub. Toucheng leads the country with nine cables, placing Tanshui's eight cables just behind it. Other landing points such as Dongyin (3 cables), Dawu, Fangshan, Huxi Township, and Nangan (each hosting two cables) serve more limited roles in comparison to the concentration of systems found at Tanshui.

Network Role

Tanshui functions as a multi-cable hub rather than a single-cable terminus, hosting eight systems that span intercontinental, regional, and domestic corridors simultaneously. Its transpacific cables — TPE and FASTER — connect Taiwan directly to the United States, while EAC-C2C, APCN-2, and SJC2 weave through the broader Asia-Pacific region linking Japan, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. The short-haul systems TSE-1, TPKM2, and Taiwan-Matsu No.4 address Taiwan's domestic inter-island and cross-strait connectivity requirements from the same landing point.

The combination of long-haul transpacific cables, regional intra-Asia systems, and domestic inter-island links at a single location makes Tanshui one of the most diversified landing points in Taiwan's submarine cable graph, second only to Toucheng in total cable count.