For many years, data center growth followed the network, with the largest clusters in major business markets. With the rise of AI, data center development has followed the power, seeking ample land and electricity to support massive campuses.

Gil Santaliz believes there are instances where AI will need to once again follow the network – all the way to the subsea cable landing.

Santaliz is the CEO of NJFX, a Tier III colocation facility and cable landing station in Wall Township, N.J. Last week NJFX announced an expansion that will enable it to house liquid-cooled GPU clusters.

NJFX says the new data hall, called Project Cool Water, will be the first purpose-built cable landing station campus in North America to support liquid-to-the-chip AI-ready infrastructure.

“The vision for NJFX has always been to support U.S. critical infrastructure with purpose-built assets that matter to our global economy,” said Santaliz, who believes having AI infrastructure at subsea cables can support strategic use cases in data sovereignty, security and network management.

“This new design ensures that subsea cables and global network carriers can continue to scale – now with an advanced data hall engineered for the AI era,” he added. “Our technical and security teams, working with federal, state, and local partners, remain committed to supporting the critical infrastructure of the United States.”

The new 10 megawatt high-density AI data hall at NJFX will feature 8 megawatts of IT load at an expected PUE of 1.25. The company announced the expansion after executing a load letter with utility JCP&L (supported by a $3 million deposit) targeting power delivery by the end of 2026.

Why AI at the Cable Landing Station?

Much of the current growth in AI is focused on GPU capacity for training and refining large language models (LLMS) and related applications. But use cases are now shifting to inference, where AI applies what it has already learned to generate answers, analysis and content.

The growth of inference creates more opportunities for strategic deployments where geography matters, along with proximity to networks and data stores

The NJFX campus hosts four subsea cables linking North America to Europe and South America and is located within 7 milliseconds of more than 100 million U.S. residents. With over 35 active network operators on-site, NJFX enables inference-ready interconnection for the next generation of AI and Generative AI workloads.

“Any network manager in the world will want to have access to intelligence to plan and optimize and manage your networks for security,” said Santaliz. “Governments are going to care about this, because you’ve got data sovereignty issues.

“A cable landing station is the first and last stop in a continent,” he added. “We’re North America’s home for four subsea cables connecting Europe and South America. Some companies don’t want specific data to leave the country.”

As global data flows get bigger and faster, it will require more computing power to analyze for companies and governments to manage.

“The larger the network, the more complicated it gets,” said Santaliz. “AI in your network will become more common as time goes on.”

The Evolution of Subsea Infrastructure

Until fairly recently, cable landing sites featured minimal infrastructure, perhaps a manhole near the beach where they come ashore and sometimes a small facility operated by the phone company or cable owner. From there, fiber routes carry the data to carrier hotels in major cities like New York or Los Angeles.

The subsea cables themselves were typically funded by consortiums of telecom carriers, due to the major expense of building fiber optic cabling under the ocean.

Around 2015, hyperscale operators became the largest investors in subsea cables, and began to redraw global fiber routes, seeking landings adjacent to strategic data center campuses.

Landing stations were changing as well, featuring more infrastructure. NJFX was perhaps the boldest move in this direction, building a 64,000 square foot, Tier III data center next to a cable landing station operated by Tata Communications. The facility is about a mile from the ocean.

“The cable landing station is no longer just a network access point – it’s becoming the infrastructure core for tomorrow’s digital economy,” said Santaliz. “Our investment in high-density infrastructure and power resiliency reflects our commitment to meeting customer demands today, while preparing for the explosive growth of AI-driven infrastructure ahead.”

The hyperscale shift created new cable landings in Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach along the Atlantic Coast, which also feature commercial colocation space. It also expands subsea cable connections beyond the large metro carrier hotels, which handle incoming subsea traffic in cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles or Seattle.

“I just want the industry to understand that it’s important that we have carrier hotels, but their evolution doesn’t match up with AI,” said Santaliz. “You’re not going to do liquid cooling in a carrier hotel, right? Most of those are office buildings – multi-story, multi-tenant buildings with windows. They don’t have the floor loads for liquid cooling. You need a purpose-built facility to do liquid-cooled GPUs.”

The NJFX Story

Santaliz was previously the CEO and founder of metro fiber provider 4Connections, which was acquired in 2008. Santaliz explored several opportunities in the data center business, and believed cable landings would be an emerging focus for companies seeking to move oceans of data and content.

The NJFX campus sites 64 feet above sea level in Wall Township on the Jersey Shore, between Asbury Park and Point Pleasant. As its business has grown, NJFX has built out manhole systems to connect to fiber routes along the Garden State Parkway and beyond. For Santaliz, AI represented the next business evolution.

“AI needs a lot of power, and I thought ‘we can do more power.’ (NJFX is ) not a really big building, but the technology density means we don’t need that much space. We need a really hard surface that’s going to withstand 10,000 pounds per rack, with the ability to run water to them and support high density. We have 10,000 square feet of structured slab with drains where we could deploy high-density liquid cooling.

So we started down this journey about a year and a half ago, working with our local utility.”

AI and power is a sensitive issue in many communities, especially if power expansions require new infrastructure. On that front, the NJFX team benefitted from good planning.

“When Tyco originally picked the location, they gave an easement to JCP&L to put their substation on our property. We agreed to pay them to upgrade and add new transformers. So we’ve got a 25-megawatt transformer coming in, and we’re going to take 12 megawatts,” with the balance going to JCP&L customers.

“Our partnership with JCP&L allows us to have better infrastructure in Monmouth County. It’s more capacity, and is going to provide our community better resilience for their homes in Monmouth County.”

The Road Ahead

As NJFX VP of Operations Ryan Imkemeier and his team make preparations for the new space, Santaliz says the concept is drawing interest.

“Our goal is to work with a customer to finalize their requirements,” said Santaliz, noting that many elements of new AI space will be customized to the customer’s requirements. “But we’re now in active conversation with several different prospects that have an interest.”

Wall, New Jersey – December 2, 2025 — NJFX today announced the completion of a comprehensive Basis of Design for a new 10MW high-density AI data hall, delivering an expected 1.25 PUE and 8MW of usable IT load. This milestone follows the execution of an electric utility load letter supported by a $3 million deposit, targeting power delivery by end of 2026.

Scott M. Davis, PE, a Partner at Bala Consulting Engineers, shared the firm’s longstanding history with NJFX: “Bala was retained in 2015 to design and commission a master plan for a Tier III compliant data center with concurrent maintainability that NJFX needed for future growth. Over the past decade, we’ve continued to engineer and commission key infrastructure — including dedicated 2N generators, battery systems, and distribution for cable station environments. Today, we are completing the NJFX Master Plan with a dedicated high-density Tier III AI data hall featuring N+1 architecture and UPS-backed mechanical systems capable of supporting dynamic AI server clusters.”

The high-density, liquid-cooled data hall will be supported by an N+1 power distribution system with UPS protection across both electrical and mechanical loads. Its robust cooling architecture integrates AFC chillers, CDUs, hot-aisle containment, and a fan-wall configuration engineered to accommodate the demanding thermal requirements of modern GPU-based AI systems.

The data hall, internally named Project Cool Water, represents the first purpose-built cable landing station campus in North America to support “liquid-to-the-chip” AI-ready infrastructure. The NJFX campus hosts four subsea cables linking North America to Europe and South America and is located within 7 milliseconds of more than 100 million U.S. residents. With over 35 active network operators on-site, NJFX enables inference-ready interconnection for the next generation of AI and Generative AI workloads.

Gil Santaliz, Founder and CEO of NJFX, added: “The vision for NJFX has always been to support U.S. critical infrastructure with purpose-built assets that matter to our global economy. In partnership with Tata Communications, we acquired the property in 2015, and in 2022 we purchased bore pipes from SubCom in Manasquan and Avon to support additional subsea landings in New Jersey. This new design ensures that subsea cables and global network carriers can continue to scale — now with an advanced data hall engineered for the AI era. Our technical and security teams, working with federal, state, and local partners, remain committed to supporting the critical infrastructure of the United States.”

For more than a decade, NJFX’s 10-acre Cable Landing Station Campus has evolved into one of the most resilient interconnection hubs in the United States. The campus uniquely combines physical subsea cable systems with fully diverse terrestrial fiber routes entering through independent Points of Entry, ensuring true route protection and international resiliency. Today, more than 35 network operators, cloud providers, financial institutions, and global enterprises interconnect on-site — leveraging NJFX as a strategic gateway between North America, Europe, and South America.

Ryan Imkemeier, Vice President of Operations at NJFX, noted that the next phase of development is backed by expanded power infrastructure: “To support NJFX’s next-generation environment, we secured additional power capacity through the utility substation located directly on our campus. The new transformer will not only supply the 10MW AI hall — it will enhance electrical redundancy for Monmouth County as a whole. This investment demonstrates our long-term commitment to reliability, scalability, and regional resiliency.”

With expanded power, engineered liquid-cooling systems, and a decade of proven subsea and terrestrial diversity, NJFX continues to redefine the modern cable landing station — delivering a secure, strategically located platform where global connectivity and AI infrastructure converge.

###

About NJFX
NJFX is a premier carrier-neutral Cable Landing Station (CLS) and Tier-III data center campus located in Wall, New Jersey, uniquely positioned at the subsea–terrestrial convergence point of the U.S. East Coast. Serving as a strategic interconnection hub for global networks, NJFX provides direct, independent access to multiple subsea cable systems connecting North America, South America, and Europe. The campus is home to more than 35 international carriers, hyperscalers, and financial institutions, offering route diversity, low-latency connectivity, and secure, purpose-built colocation infrastructure. For more information, visit us at njfx.net

About Bala Consulting Engineers
Bala Consulting Engineers has been at the forefront of providing critical and technologically advanced engineering services for more than 40 years. Bala was founded in 1982 to design data centers, specializing in the engineering and commissioning of critical systems infrastructure. The firm offers clients distinct advantages in system planning, design optimization and cost/value management. Headquartered in Philadelphia, with offices from Boston to Washington DC, our staff of over 200 engineers, designers and support personnel have completed projects both nationally and internationally. For more information, visit us at bala.com.

Media Inquiries:
Emily Newman, Marketing Director, NJFX
[email protected]