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Map: The World’s Network of Submarine Cables

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submarine cable network map

Map: The World’s Network of Submarine Cables

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Submarine cables are decidedly uncool. But while they lack the flashiness of satellites, it’s actually the world’s vast network of fiber optic cables that does most of the heavy lifting in keeping our information flowing from place to place.

The map above, by Ben Pollock, is a comprehensive look at the world’s cable network, as well as some of the impressive information on bandwidth and maintenance jurisdictions.

The History of Submarine Cables

The first transcontinental cable – laid in 1858 – ran from Ireland to Newfoundland, and made telegraph communication possible between England and Canada.

atlantic cable map

Though communication was expensive and limited to only a few words per hour at best, the speed of communication was unparalleled at the time.

“Instant” communication was a huge commercial hit, and it prompted a cable laying boom. By the year 1900, there were already over 130,000 miles (200,000 km) of cable running along the ocean floor!

Beyond the Telegram

The first transatlantic telephone cables went into service in 1956, and 32 years later, the first fiber optic cable connected Europe and America.

Fiber optic technology made transmitting massive quantities of information fast and cost-effective. The level of speed has only increased with time – and now cables can transmit 160 terabits per second.

cable cross section

(One common misconception is that most of our information is transmitted through satellites, but fiber optic cables actually form the backbone of the internet, transmitting about 99% of all data.)

Today, there are over 420 submarine cables in service, stretching over 700,000 miles (1.1 million km) around the world. The network is clustered around information economy hotspots like Singapore and New York, but cables connect to just about anywhere.

Remote Pacific islands, and even obscure ocean towns in the Arctic Circle have such connections.

Who’s Footing the Bill?

Traditionally, private companies or consortiums formed by telecom carriers owned cables, but that model is changing. Content providers such as Google and Microsoft are increasingly major investors in new cable. Cloud computing is the big demand driver of this new private cable boom.

As more millions more people around the world adopt cloud computing, we’ll be certain to see even more cables criss-crossing the world’s oceans in the near future.

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Visualizing the Top U.S. States for AI Jobs

Nearly 800,000 AI jobs were posted in the U.S. throughout 2022. View this graphic to see a breakdown by state.

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Visualizing the Top U.S. States for AI Jobs

Much ink has been spilled over fears that artificial intelligence (AI) will eliminate jobs in the economy. While some of those fears may be well-founded, red-hot interest in AI innovation is creating new jobs as well.

This graphic visualizes data from Lightcast, a labor market analytics firm, which shows how many AI-related jobs were posted in each state throughout 2022.

In total there were 795,624 AI jobs posted throughout the year, of which 469,925 (59%) were in the top 10. The full tally is included in the table below.

RankStateNumber of job postings% of total
1California142,15417.9%
2Texas66,6248.4%
3New York43,8995.5%
4Massachusetts34,6034.3%
5Virginia34,2214.3%
6Florida33,5854.2%
7Illinois31,5694.0%
8Washington31,2843.9%
9Georgia26,6203.3%
10Michigan25,3663.2%
11North Carolina23,8543.0%
12New Jersey23,4472.9%
13Colorado20,4212.6%
14Pennsylvania20,3972.6%
15Arizona19,5142.5%
16Ohio19,2082.4%
17Maryland16,7692.1%
18Minnesota11,8081.5%
19Tennessee11,1731.4%
20Missouri10,9901.4%
21Oregon10,8111.4%
22Washington, D.C.9,6061.2%
23Indiana9,2471.2%
24Connecticut8,9601.1%
25Wisconsin8,8791.1%
26Alabama7,8661.0%
27Kansas7,6831.0%
28Arkansas7,2470.9%
29Utah6,8850.9%
30Nevada6,8130.9%
31Idaho6,1090.8%
32Oklahoma5,7190.7%
33Iowa5,6700.7%
34South Carolina4,9280.6%
35Louisiana4,8060.6%
36Kentucky4,5360.6%
37Nebraska4,0320.5%
38Delaware3,5030.4%
39New Mexico3,3570.4%
40Rhode Island2,9650.4%
41New Hampshire2,7190.3%
42Hawaii2,5500.3%
43Mississippi2,5480.3%
44Maine2,2270.3%
45South Dakota2,1950.3%
46Vermont1,5710.2%
47North Dakota1,2270.2%
48Alaska9700.1%
49West Virginia8870.1%
50Montana8330.1%
51Wyoming7690.1%

The following chart adds some context to these numbers. It shows how the percentage of AI job postings in some of the top states has changed since 2010.

We can see that California quickly became the primary destination for AI jobs in the early 2010s, presumably as Silicon Valley companies began developing the technology.

California’s share has since declined, with a significant number of jobs seemingly moving to Texas. In fact, many tech companies are relocating to Texas to avoid California’s relatively higher taxes and cost of living.

The 10 Most In-Demand Specialized Skills

Lightcast also captured the top 10 specialized skills that were required for AI-related jobs. These are listed in the table below.

SkillFrequency (number of postings)Frequency (% of postings)
Python296,66237%
Computer Science260,33333%
SQL185,80723%
Data Analysis159,80120%
Data Science157,85520%
Amazon Web Services155,61519%
Agile Methodology152,96519%
Automation138,79117%
Java133,85617%
Software Engineering133,28617%

If you’re interested in a career that focuses on AI, becoming proficient in Python is likely to be a good first step.

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