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Global Undersea Quantum Communication Network QuantumNet Completes Trans-Pacific Segment: Tokyo to San Jose QKD Latency Under 50ms

NEC and Google's trans-Pacific undersea quantum communication cable completes testing, achieving quantum key distribution latency under 50 milliseconds over 9,600 kilometers.

Quantum Secure Communication Crosses the Pacific

On July 3, 2029, Japan's NEC Group and Google simultaneously announced in Tokyo and San Jose that the trans-Pacific undersea quantum communication cable QuantumNet-TP completed a 60-day stability test. This 9,600-kilometer cable is the world's first trans-Pacific quantum key distribution (QKD) commercial line, achieving end-to-end key distribution latency under 50 milliseconds.

QuantumNet-TP employs NEC's "trusted relay + quantum entanglement swapping" hybrid architecture. Since quantum signal transmission in optical fiber is limited to about 100 kilometers, long-distance QKD requires relay nodes. Traditional approaches rely on "trusted relay stations" where each relay node can see the key content. QuantumNet-TP's innovation embeds quantum entanglement swapping units in 12 undersea branching units along the cable, enabling key transfer between relay nodes without exposing intermediate content.

"The technical challenge of trans-Pacific quantum communication is 100 times that of land-based lines," said NEC quantum communication project lead Takeshi Yamamoto. "Seawater pressure, temperature gradients, and cable bending all affect quantum state fidelity. We embedded active compensation modules in the cable design to counteract these disturbances."

Google has announced plans to integrate QuantumNet-TP into its cloud computing platform, providing quantum-secure encrypted communication for financial, healthcare, and government clients. Google Quantum AI lab head Hartmut Neven said: "When quantum computers can crack existing encryption algorithms, only quantum key distribution can guarantee communication security. QuantumNet-TP extends this protection across the Pacific."

The project has also raised geopolitical concerns. Control of trans-Pacific quantum communication infrastructure involves data sovereignty and national security. The US Department of Homeland Security has requested an independent security review of QuantumNet-TP's architecture, while China and the EU are accelerating their own regional quantum communication networks.