Prysmian has completed its $65 million acquisition of Xtera through a joint venture owned 80% by Prysmian and 20% by Fincantieri. The closing follows the proposed transaction announced in December 2025 and expands Prysmian’s capabilities in submarine telecommunications systems, including optical repeaters, wet and dry plant engineering, and turnkey integration.

Prysmian is doubling production capacity at its Nordenham, Germany, submarine telecom cable facility and seeking up to 300 additional employees. The company is also evaluating an investment in a dedicated submarine telecommunications cable-laying vessel.

Xtera has secured a contract to provide optical engineering and wet and dry plant for EXA Infrastructure’s planned EXA Meridian transatlantic cable. The 6,552-kilometer system will connect New Jersey with Brean in the United Kingdom, using 24 fiber pairs and designed for more than 500 Tbps of scalable capacity. Service is targeted for 2029. Prysmian’s Nordenham facility will manufacture the cable.

Key Takeaways

Analysis

The acquisition expands Prysmian’s vertical integration from submarine cable manufacturing and marine installation into optical system design, repeater technology and turnkey telecommunications systems. The Nordenham expansion adds production capacity for international projects, with EXA Meridian representing a substantial transatlantic deployment. The combined capabilities position Prysmian to pursue projects requiring coordinated optical engineering, cable manufacturing and marine installation.

Established suppliers in the submarine telecommunications systems market include SubCom, Alcatel Submarine Networks and NEC. The next milestones for Prysmian will be the Nordenham capacity expansion, execution of the EXA Meridian contract and a decision on a dedicated telecom cable-laying vessel.

Company Profile: Prysmian

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