FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co., Ltd. (FiberHome), a Chinese provider of networking and telecommunication equipment, has opened a plant in Kisbér, Hungary.

Per multiple media reports—from Xinhua and Evertiq, an electronic news service—the optical cable base that is called ZettaNet represents “a new milestone in Chinese-Hungarian economic cooperation.” The investment was estimated at 20 million euros, with 15% of the funding provided by the Hungarian state.

FiberHome had previously served European customers via a distributor, but now the company “is stepping up its direct manufacturing base.” The Kisbér facility, which will have about 120 employees, will produce optical cables for local customers such as Magyar Telekom and MVM. The reports noted that FiberHome has industrial bases in Wuhan, Northeast China, East China, Southwest China, Northwest China, South America, South Asia, and North Africa, and dozens of wholly-owned, holding and equity participation subsidiaries, and now the optical cable base in Hungary.

“This newly established ZettaNet cable manufacturing base is our first industrial entity invested in and constructed in Europe,” said FiberHome Board Chairman Zeng Jun. The Hungarian facility will leverage FiberHome’s expertise in the fiber optic cable industry to establish a high-end optical communication manufacturing hub in Europe. The site will integrate production, technological research and development, and logistics delivery to serve the broader European market, he said.

The Chinese Ambassador to Hungary, Gong Tao, observed that the project was completed and put into operation in less than a year. That achievement “not only demonstrated the efficiency and strength of Chinese companies but also reflects the mutual trust, cooperation and shared vision between China and Hungary.”

Per Schoenherr, an Austrian law firm that advised Chengdu Datang Communication Cable Co. (a member of the FiberHome Group), said the 25,000-sqm industrial site in Kisbér had been owned by the Hungarian subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems Limited, the European company of the Japanese Sumitomo Group. FiberHome, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, was said to hold some 4,000 patents.

Nexans has secured a major contract from Interconnect Malta (ICM) to deliver the second Malta-Sicily interconnector, a high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) subsea link designed to reinforce Malta’s electricity system.

A press release said that the subsea cable, to be made at the company’s U.S. plant in Charleston, South Carolina, will run between Maghtab, Malta, and Ragusa, Sicily. The length was not cited, but a report at independent.com said it would be about 99 km long and the project is valued at approximately €300 million. The cable will be installed in parallel with the existing interconnector that Nexans supplied in 2015.

“Delivering this second interconnector strengthens the energy link between Malta and Sicily, ensuring long-term stability for the country’s electricity supply,” said Nexans’ EVP Power Transmission Business Group, Pascal Radue. “Building on our longstanding partnership with Interconnect Malta, this project also plays a key role in supporting the country’s transition toward a climate-neutral economy and enabling further investment in renewable energy.”

In other news, Nexans reported that the company is expanding its low-carbon product range this year. The low-voltage cables from its plant in Jeumont (northern France) will have 10% recycled aluminum content and contribute to reducing Nexans’ and its customers’ carbon footprints. They will be made exclusively with low-carbon aluminum produced using a decarbonized energy mix, and 10% of the aluminum in them will be recycled. All the cables from Jeumont for low-voltage markets will include this new feature.

“The goal for Nexans today is to source enough recycled aluminum to meet the market’s needs,” said Nexans Sustainable Offer Marketing Director Laure Desseigne. “That’s why we are asking our customers to route their cables towards streams that effectively ensure circularity, i.e. turn used cables into new, recycled cables.” In 2024, the Nexans Group announced a new €15 million investment plan to modernize its plant in Bourgen-Bresse, France, to produce eco-friendlier medium-voltage cables.

Germany’s SIKORA AG, a manufacturer of innovative measuring, control and sorting technologies for industries that include wire and cable, was acquired by Swiss MAAG

Group, a leading international group of companies for integrated solutions in polymer processing and part of the Dover Corporation.

A press release said that, with the news, “SIKORA gains a strong strategic partner for the future.” Founded in 1973 by Harald Sikora, SIKORA continuously developed, opened up new markets and has grown steadily. The company now has some 450 employees in Bremen and its 13 international subsidiaries, from which it offers innovative solutions and customized customer service.

“With the MAAG Group, we have found our ideal partner for the future,” said Harald Sikora, who added that he is confident that the company is in capable hands: “SIKORA and MAAG are connected by more than just a strategic goal: we share core values - innovative strength, entrepreneurial spirit, sustainable thinking and the clear pursuit of long-term success. We are therefore convinced that in the MAAG Group we have found the right partner for further growth and to continue our success story together.”

MAAG Group President Ueli Thuerig said that SIKORA’s products “address similar customer needs in resin-related markets to ours, and its offerings provide MAAG with increased exposure to highly attractive market adjacencies where we have existing industry knowledge and customer relationships.” He predicted that synergies “will generate material cross-selling benefit with a highly complementary portfolio of products and technologies, deepening our joint value proposition and integration with our OEM partners and end customers.”

The release said that SIKORA’s expertise in measuring and control technology ideally complements the MAAG Group’s portfolio in the areas of pump, filtration and pelletizing systems. The regional proximity also offers advantages: Both companies are represented with strong locations in the DACH region and are broadly positioned internationally. This results in valuable, shared strengths and the opportunity to provide customers with even more comprehensive support and offer new solutions.

Harald Sikora will remain in an advisory capacity and the partners will rely on continuity with regard to the operational management at SIKORA. The long-standing Management Board of SIKORA AG will continue to be responsible for the company’s growth story in the future.

Dr. Christian Frank, CEO of SIKORA, adds, “The partnership with the MAAG Group is a strong sign for our future: for SIKORA, for the Bremen location, and for our global team. “We have achieved great things over the past decades,” said SIKORA CEO Dr. Christian Frank. “Now a new chapter is beginning in which we can contribute our strengths and

continue to grow with MAAG. For our employees, this transaction means security, new perspectives, and the opportunity to continue our success story together.”

Space Norway and SubCom have a deal to build and deploy the Arctic Way Cable System, a high-capacity subsea network that will connect mainland Norway to two of its territories—Jan Mayen and Svalbard—that are located quite far apart.

A press release said that the 2,350 km trunk-and-branch system will be the world’s northernmost repeatered subsea cable, running entirely within the Arctic Circle between 67°N and 78°N. The system is scheduled to be ready for service by Q2 2028 and will provide critical route diversity for the region’s growing data demands, while ensuring continued connectivity for remote Arctic communities.

SubCom will manufacture the cable and supporting infrastructure at its facility in Newington, New Hampshire, and will handle installation via one of its polar-certified Reliance Class vessels. The system will feature direct landings in Bodø (mainland Norway), Jan Mayen, and Longyearbyen (Svalbard), supplementing and eventually succeeding the existing Svalbard cable system, which is expected to remain in service beyond its original 25-year design life. The Arctic Way project underscores the strategic importance of high-latitude digital infrastructure as data traffic in the Arctic continues to grow.

Space Norway’s goal is to deliver uninterrupted Arctic connectivity as existing cables near end-of-life by 2028+.The system addresses growing regional data demands from commercial, government, and scientific stakeholders.

Arctic Way builds on SubCom’s previous work deploying the original Svalbard cable system, which remains the sole telecommunications link between Svalbard and mainland Norway. That system consists of two separate optical fiber cables, each with eight fiber pairs, running from Harstad to Breivika in Andøy Municipality, and from Breivika to Hotellneset near Longyearbyen, Svalbard. The main undersea segments from Breivika to Hotellneset are 1,375 and 1,339 km long, respectively. Each cable includes 20 optical repeaters and is capable of a speed of 10 Gbit/s, with a future upgrade potential of up to 2,500 Gbit/s.

“Establishing the new Arctic Way cable system is imperative to ensure that data connectivity for the Arctic community is effective and uninterrupted for decades to come,” said Morten Tengs, CEO of Space Norway.

LS GreenLink USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of South Korea’s LS Cable & System Ltd. (LS C&S), on April 28 held the official groundbreaking ceremony at its new submarine power cable manufacturing facility on a 97-acre site in Chesapeake, Virginia.

A press release said that the company plans to invest more than $680 million in the new facility as part of its long-term global expansion strategy. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2027, with full operations beginning in early 2028. The project is anticipated to create more than 330 new jobs in its first phase, with future expansion possible.

LS C&S anticipates the U.S. subsea cable market will grow more than 30% annually over the next decade. The company said the new plant will provide end-to-end capabilities in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cable manufacturing, transportation and supply.

“The construction of the LS GreenLink plant is a turning point for LS Cable & System to become a global energy infrastructure company,” said LS C&S XEO Koo Bon-kyu.

In March 2024, the project was awarded $99 million in investment tax credits under Section 48C of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, also known as the “Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit Program.” Other cable manufacturers have also qualified, including Hellenic Cables Americas, which was awarded a tax credit allocation in 2024 of up to $58 million for its planned cable manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 2022, Prysmian announced similar plans to build a cable plant in Somerset, Massachusetts but canceled that in January 2025. While multiple reports cited the Trump administration’s executive orders halting new offshore wind permits as a key factor, Prysmian publicly stated that its decision was unrelated to political changes.

TS Conductor (TS), a U.S.-based manufacturer of advanced power transmission technology, will invest $134 million to build a new production facility in Hardeeville, South Carolina, that will create more than 450 jobs.

Per multiple press releases, the plant will manufacture TS’s Aluminum Encapsulated Carbon Core (AECC) conductors, which are designed as direct substitutes for traditional ACSR (aluminum conductor steel-reinforced) cables and are compatible with existing installation and maintenance practices. The new facility, located in the Clarius Park Hardeeville industrial park near the Port of Savannah, is TS’s second U.S. manufacturing site, its first being in Huntington Beach, California.

The project will be carried out in three phases. Phase one involves TS moving into a 301,275-sq-ft building within Clarius Park Hardeeville. This phase is scheduled to begin operations by the end of 2025 and is supported in part by funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through its Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. The DOE funding is part of a broader initiative to bolster domestic manufacturing capacity for critical energy supply chain needs, including high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines.

Future phases of the project could add up to 1 million sq ft of additional manufacturing space as demand grows. TS projects the three-phase expansion will create 462 manufacturing jobs. The AECC conductors incorporate a pre-tensioned carbon core, a seamless aluminum encapsulation layer and trapezoidal strands made from annealed aluminum. The design is intended to maximize strength, reduce thermal expansion and improve conductivity compared to conventional steel-reinforced cables. The advanced conductors are often used for reconductoring existing power cable lines, especially in applications where excessive sag is a concern, allowing utilities to upgrade capacity without replacing towers or structures.

The TS technology has been recognized with the 2024 Bloomberg NEF Pioneers Award, the S&P Global Platts Rising Star Company award and honors from Public Utilities Fortnightly and DOE. The 2023 June issue of WJI included a writeup on the DOE’s choosing TS as one of the seven companies chosen from 50 teams that entered its Stage 2 Conductivity-enhanced materials for Affordable, Breakthrough Leapfrog Electric applications (CABLE) contest. The winners got $200,000 and $100,000 in vouchers for laboratory support.

TS’s expansion comes at a time when the U.S. electric grid is facing increased demand due to the growth of data centers, manufacturing, and new energy projects. TS says its

conductors are intended to help utilities increase transmission capacity and improve grid reliability without requiring major changes to existing infrastructure.

The announcement in March was attended by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who welcomed TS Conductor to Jasper County, and by state and local officials who highlighted the potential economic impact of the investment. “TS Conductor’s announcement showcases that cutting-edge energy companies recognize the many advantages of doing business in South Carolina,” said Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III.

In July 2024, TS Conductor raised $60 million in a growth funding round to support the expansion.