Google Cloud Completes Global 100Gbps Backbone Upgrade, Cutting Transpacific Latency to 89ms

Google Cloud announced on September 22nd that its multi-year infrastructure refresh — internally called Project Meridian — is now complete across all 38 cloud regions. The upgrade replaces legacy 40Gbps wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) links with Ciena's 100Gbps coherent optics across more than 180,000 kilometers of owned and leased fiber. Transpacific latency between us-west2 (Oregon) and asia-east1 (Taiwan) dropped from 114ms to 89ms, a 22% improvement. Intra-European routes saw latency reductions of 18–25%, depending on distance. Google Cloud says the new backbone supports up to 400Gbps per wavelength in anticipation of future upgrades without physical fiber replacement. Enterprise customers on Compute Engine and GKE will see throughput gains automatically — no configuration changes required. The project, which began in late 2024, cost an estimated $4.8 billion and involved partnerships with fiber operators like Exa Infrastructure and Windstream Wholesale.