The historic rivalry between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia over megaprojects has jumped to the digital plane. Now they compete to dominate fiber optic infrastructure, key for artificial intelligence. Both seek to be the data nexus between East and West, funding submarine and terrestrial cable projects worth billions. In this struggle, Iraq emerges as a stable and coveted actor.
SilkLink vs. WorldLink: Technical Capacity and Strategic Routes ⚔️
Saudi Arabia is betting on SilkLink, a 4,500 km cable costing 1 billion dollars that plans to cross Syria. Its goal is to create a direct land route to Europe. The United Arab Emirates counters with WorldLink, valued at 700 million, which will connect its territory with Iraq to access Turkey. These projects aim to avoid the bottleneck of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and offer the low latency necessary for the massive data traffic generated by AI.
Iraq, the Surprise Guest at the Cable Party 🎯
Who would have thought it. While the oil giants fight to be the main router of the region, Iraq suddenly finds itself in the position of the neighbor with the best location to lay fiber. After decades of conflicts, now its greatest geopolitical asset is to offer a stable corridor for terabytes to pass through. A lesson that in the 21st century, sometimes having a right of way for data is more valuable than an oil well.