Norwegian infrastructure company Bulk is seeking a majority partner to build a proposed undersea cable linking Norway with eastern Canada, then continuing overland to Montreal. Project Leif Erikson would give AI and other data-heavy services another transatlantic route, but it still needs financing, approvals and local backing.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
The proposed cable would run more than 2,800 miles from southern Norway to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador. From there, it would travel underground through Quebec to Montreal. Bulk estimates construction would cost more than US$620 million and is seeking a majority partner to help fund and build it.
Bulk co-founder Peder Nærbø has pitched the project as a sovereign cable system for Canada. The company presented it to investors in September as a direct, secure, high-capacity link for AI, telecoms and hyperscale data markets. Tom’s Hardware, relaying Bloomberg’s reporting, says the project has been discussed for five years, but still requires EU and Canadian planning and approval. A lengthy Canadian land route would also need support from Indigenous communities.
Why it matters
Most direct undersea links between Canada and elsewhere do not offer a Canada-owned route that avoids the United States. A new connection could give Canadian and European organisations another option for moving data, including for AI and cloud infrastructure. The geopolitical case is part of the pitch: Nærbø says worsening relations between Washington and Ottawa helped give the proposal new momentum.
That is not the same as a cable being funded or built. The project’s route, cost and strategic promise are still proposals, and the approvals and community support needed to make them real are substantial.
Our read
This is a consequential infrastructure proposal, not a new cable quietly appearing on a map. Its AI connection is concrete: the project was pitched for AI and hyperscale markets, while offering a potential alternative route for data traffic. The interesting test is whether the sovereignty argument can attract money and agreement without treating the communities along the route as an afterthought.
What to watch
- Whether Bulk finds the majority partner and financing needed to start construction.
- What route and approvals Canada and the EU ultimately support.
- Whether the required Indigenous community backing is secured.
- What emerges from the planned Canada–Europe digital-links statement on 29 October.
Discussion spark: Should Canada and Europe pay a premium for a data route that avoids US infrastructure, or should they prioritise cost and speed over strategic independence?
Sources and evidence
Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.