Google and Facebook have teamed up to build an 8,000-mile undersea internet cable between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, the longest and fastest internet cable across the Pacific.

The project, a collaboration between the two internet giants, as well as Pacific Light Data Communication and TE SubCom, two telecoms companies, is intended to improve connection speeds between the two continents.

It is one of a number of mammoth undersea cables that Google and Facebook have invested in as they attempt to boost the speed and reliability of their own internet services. Both are also investing heavily in projects to bring internet access to far-flung areas of the world with ambitious projects such as solar-powered internet drones and gigantic balloons.