The long-discussed Digital Silk Road is finally moving from concept to implementation. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have entered the active phase of building a fiber-optic communication line (FOCL) along the seabed of the Caspian Sea—an undertaking poised to redraw the digital connectivity map of Eurasia.
Stretching from Aktau to Sumgayit, the 380-kilometer subsea cable will create a direct, high-capacity data link between the two shores while serving as a crucial segment of a broader trans-Eurasian digital corridor. With a planned throughput of up to 400 terabits per second and an investment envelope exceeding $50 million, this is more than an infrastructure build—it is a strategic bet on the region’s digital future.
At the heart of the effort is the Digital Silk Way, an ambitious plan to establish a resilient telecommunications corridor through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. If the ancient Silk Road moved goods, this modern iteration moves information—the essential currency of the 21st-century economy.
Engineering is well underway. Specialized vessels have completed detailed seabed surveys to map underwater terrain, depths, and currents—data essential for finalizing the safest, most reliable route. Onshore, sites have been selected for the cable landing station and beach manhole, locking in the physical anchor points of the system. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.
Image:digitalsilkway.az
Why does this matter? For both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the Digital Silk Way is not just about faster connectivity. It is a platform for economic modernization and digital transformation. By diversifying transcontinental data routes, the new line will add redundancy, reduce latency, and sharply enhance network resilience. Those foundations are precisely what enable the next wave of growth industries—fintech, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and data-intensive services that demand dependable, low-latency links.
The geopolitical logic is equally compelling. The Caspian FOCL strengthens the Middle Corridor by aligning digital infrastructure with overland transport and energy networks already bridging East and West. For Europe, it opens an alternative path for data at a time when cyber resilience is an explicit security priority. For Asia, it provides faster, more predictable access to global markets—helping ensure that digital trade is not hostage to single-route vulnerabilities.
This push has deep roots. Sixteen years ago, Azerbaijan advanced the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM)—a high-speed backbone concept linking Frankfurt to Hong Kong via China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye. The Caspian segment now being delivered by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan can be seen as a practical revival of that vision, recalibrated for today’s realities. Recognition has followed: in 2023, the Digital Silk Way was named among Asia’s top five strategic infrastructure initiatives at the Global Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum in the United States.
There have been course corrections. Completion was initially targeted for 2024, but timelines shifted as stakeholders reassessed the project’s value amid the presence of other continental fiber routes. After weighing the trade-offs, the verdict was clear: a dedicated, Caspian-parallel line to the Middle Corridor offers the region the most stable, reliable, and secure backbone for the decades ahead.
Governance and execution steps are also locked in. Tendering was completed in March, and on March 4 a contract confirming the subsea build was signed in the presence of the prime ministers of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Construction will proceed in stages: coastal and seabed assessments; design; production of high-specification, durable cables; and finally transport and installation. The target remains completion by end-2026.
The network effect will not stop at two countries. Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan also have an agreement for a subsea backbone connecting Siyazan to Turkmenbashi—an eastward extension that will channel European internet traffic across Azerbaijan into Turkmenistan and onward to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. In practice, that means a more seamless digital pathway linking Europe with Central and South Asia—precisely the kind of diversified topology global networks now require.
Crucially, the project is backed by a policy rationale as well as engineering feasibility. A joint assessment by the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and ADA University’s Institute of Development and Diplomacy (IDD) underscores the cable’s importance for economic renewal and digital transition. In an era when data flows underpin everything from payments to AI, the case for capacity, redundancy, and latency reduction is not theoretical—it is existential.
Photo: Shutterstock
In this sense, Azerbaijan’s role is pivotal. Already a vital energy supplier and transit hub between East and West, Baku is adding a new dimension to its strategic identity: that of a digital bridge. The Caspian FOCL ensures Azerbaijan is not only moving hydrocarbons through pipelines or goods along highways and railways—it is also transmitting the lifeblood of the modern economy: information.
For Kazakhstan, the dividends are clear: secure alternative data routes and deeper integration into a wider Eurasian digital ecosystem. But it is Azerbaijan that sits at the crossroads where physical and digital corridors converge. From overland connections that include the Middle Corridor to undersea links like the Digital Silk Way, Azerbaijan is methodically shaping its profile as an indispensable connector between continents.
The lesson is broader than the Caspian. In a fragmented world where politics can stall cooperation, this project demonstrates pragmatic regionalism at work. By building redundancy into Eurasia’s digital arteries, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are improving not only their own resilience but also the stability of cross-border data flows on which partners in Europe and Asia increasingly depend.
The Digital Silk Road, in short, is no longer a slogan. It is taking physical form on the seabed of the Caspian—an infrastructure bet on connectivity as a source of growth, a shield against risk, and a catalyst for regional integration. If the 19th century was defined by railroads and the 20th by highways and pipelines, the 21st will be defined by bandwidth. On that measure, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are moving decisively from vision to reality.
By Tural Heybatov
