PRC Seeks Dominance in Submarine Power Cable Infrastructure

Executive Summary:

• Beijing is promoting cross-border power transmission projects, deploying its leading producers of submarine electric cables to deepen integration with other countries’ critical infrastructure.
• Orient Cables, a national champion firm that has received generous government subsidies and has achieved several technical breakthroughs, is now expanding overseas. It is involved in the One Belt One Road initiative and Beijing’s Global Energy Interconnection Strategy, as well as a project that will link power generation in Morocco with demand for electricity in the United Kingdom.
• Reliance on strategic rivals for critical infrastructure opens recipient states to vulnerabilities that those rivals can exploit. Previous examples include Germany’s reliance on energy supplied by Russia’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline and various countries’ reliance on Huawei to provide critical telecommunications infrastructure.

Beijing sees submarine cables as critical infrastructure that can serve as conduits not just for electrical power but also for its own geopolitical power. This was evident in the 2025 government work report, which highlighted “deep-sea technology” (深海科技) as a key emerging industry to develop (Xinhua, March 12). Deep-sea technology is used as a tool to deepen other countries’ integration with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This vision was evident in a recent joint statement signed at the China-ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit, which explicitly encouraged investment and cooperation in submarine cable and cross-border power transmission projects (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 28).

Ningbo Orient Wires & Cables (Orient Cables; 东方电缆) is the PRC’s current sectoral leader. Having built up nearly two fifths of domestic market share, it is now expanding overseas—including via a project that will link power generation in Morocco with demand in the United Kingdom. As with previous international energy and critical infrastructure projects, reliance on strategic rivals for such infrastructure opens recipient states to vulnerabilities that rivals can exploit.

Beijing Wants to Use Undersea Energy Infrastructure for Power Projection

PRC policy documents and state media portray submarine cable technology as strategic national infrastructure. Its inclusion in the most recent government work report built on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 13th Five-Year Plan, which emphasized offshore wind development and coastal nuclear power construction—both of which require transmission cables to connect power plants to grid infrastructure (National Development and Reform Commission, November 7, 2016). Multiple provinces have outlined marine economy development plans for 2025, with Shandong focusing on developing high-technology vessels, Zhejiang expanding its marine engineering equipment, and Guangdong enhancing maritime vessel manufacturing, all aimed at reinforcing the PRC’s maritime dominance (Xinhua, January 23).

The PRC has established a leading position in the submarine power cable industry through several technical breakthroughs. One recent example is the successful testing of a new power converter system by China Southern Power Grid (中国南方电网), reportedly achieving 19 “world firsts” (世界第一) in transmission technology (China Energy News, January 17). This is a reminder that PRC technologies have reached global standards, innovating to overcome challenges posed by long-distance transmission.

Beijing is now integrating submarine power infrastructure with broader geopolitical objectives. Submarine cable projects are included in projects as part of the One Belt One Road (一带一路) initiative and Global Energy Interconnection Strategy (全球能源互联网发展战略). This positions submarine power cables as critical arteries for cross-border energy transmission and regional influence (GEIDCO, February 22, 2017; China (Shanghai) International Cable Industry Exhibition 2025, accessed June 24). [1] These developments align with a broader maritime expansion strategy characterized as “managing the ocean, strengthening the country through the sea” (经略海洋 向海图强) (CCTV, September 4, 2023).

Table 1: The PRC’s current three leading cable providers

(Source: News and website information gathered and organized by DSET)

Chinese Firms Overseas Expansion and Technological Advancement

Orient Cables exemplifies how a national “single-item champion enterprise” (单项冠军企业)—a PRC company that specializes in a niche sector, leads globally in technology, and holds a top market share worldwide—can leverage strong policy support from Beijing to capture overseas markets. According to a statement on its website, the company ranks first in the PRC for providing total submarine cable solution services. It is integrated across the value chain, engaging in in-house research and development (R&D), manufacturing cables themselves, and providing services from installation to maintenance (Orient Cables, April 22, accessed June 23).

Established in 1998, Orient Cables began investing in the production of “optical fiber composite submarine cables” (光电复合海底电缆) in 2005. Through participating in national technology programs such as the National Science and Technology Support Program (国家科技支撑计划), it was able to produce steadily more advanced cables. State support has also come in the form of subsidies. Ningbo’s Municipal Finance Bureau and Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries have provided over renminbi (RMB) 30 million ($4 million) for an industrialization demonstration project, and an additional RMB 19 million ($2.7 million) a rolling project aimed at scaling advanced subsea technologies (Orient Cables, December 21, 2016). In 2018, the firm successfully delivered the country’s first optical fiber composite submarine cable rated at 220 kilovolts (kV) and a 500kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables insulated with cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)—the technology currently favored for long-distance bulk power transmission (Orient Cables, September 15, 2018; Sina Finance, August 7, 2019). [2]

In 2022, Orient Cables expanded overseas, opening an office in Rotterdam to cover the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom (Sina Finance, March 10, 2023). Orient Cables has supplied over 12,000 kilometers of submarine cables globally—approximately the distance from Beijing to the PRC’s Zhongshan Station in Antarctica. Its ultra-high-voltage (UHV) power transmission technology enables transmission over distances of 1,000–3,000 km.

In 2024, it acquired a 2.4 percent stake in a project that will supply the United Kingdom with energy generated in Morocco via cables crossing the territorial waters of Morocco, Spain, Portugal, and France (Offshore Energy, January 29, 2024). The deal, signed with XLCC, a British subsea cable manufacturer, targets R&D cooperation on cables and aligns with the company’s mid- and long-term goals of expanding into overseas markets (Xinhua Finance, January 23, 2024).

As part of the deal, Orient Cables secured preferential bidding rights in the event that XLCC fails to deliver the required cables by 2028. Given that XLCC’s R&D capacity relies heavily on Orient Cables’ technical services, this is a distinct possibility (Orient Cables, January 23, 2023).

Dependency Leads to Security Vulnerabilities

PRC dominance in submarine cable infrastructure can create dependency relationships with external partners, exposing them to vulnerabilities. This creates the possibility that patterns seen elsewhere could be repeated. These include the energy sector, where Russia was able to exploit Germany’s reliance on energy supplied by its Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the early stages of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and in the telecommunications sector, where Western nations became reliant on potentially compromised critical infrastructure. PRC media makes the link with the latter example, referring to advanced power cables as the “5G of power transmission” (那特高压输就是名副其实的‘5G’) (Huxiu, November 3, 2020; China News Service, June 20, 2022).

Western governments are increasingly cognizant of these vulnerabilities. Undersea cables have been the focus of meetings in 2021 of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC), as well as of a 2025 joint statement signed by the United States with European countries, Australia, Canada, Micronesia, Japan, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Tonga, and Tuvalu. The statement implicitly warned against dependence on the PRC, calling for “managing security risks, including from high-risk suppliers” (Carnegie India, December 16, 2024; U.S. State Department, September 26, 2024). Japan also has announced plans to list undersea cables as critical supplies (Nikkei Asia, April 15).

Conclusion

As technology from PRC companies becomes entrenched in critical infrastructure overseas, other countries must be aware of the risks that any degree of dependency involves. Reliance on PRC manufacturers of submarine energy cables may pose an ongoing risk for countries seeking to avoid dependence on the PRC for their critical infrastructure. As these firms expand abroad, their strategic acquisitions and state backing threaten to repeat patterns of technological dominance seen in other sectors.

Notes

[1] The Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) is a Beijing-based international organization established in 2016 to promote the PRC’s vision of a worldwide electricity grid connecting renewable energy sources across continents. Founded with backing from State Grid Corporation of China, GEIDCO advocates for massive cross-border power transmission infrastructure as part of the One Belt One Road initiative, aiming to create what it calls a “global energy internet” (全球能源互联网) that would facilitate both clean energy transition and the PRC’s geopolitical influence through energy connectivity.

[2] The 525kV HVDC XLPE cable system has become the standard technology for large cable projects internationally, allowing the company to enter the global market and compete with leading players from other countries (NKT, November 3, 2023).