China has turn into the primary nation on the planet to function an underwater data center, or UDC, powered by wind. Positioned off the coast of Shanghai, the complicated represents a major advance within the nation’s technique to safe power provides within the face of the accelerated progress of synthetic intelligence, scale back dependence on fossil fuels, and scale back the environmental affect of its expertise infrastructure.
The initiative is the results of a collaboration between personal firm HiCloud Expertise and state-owned China Communications Development, which concerned an funding of 1.6 billion yuan, equal to about $236 million.
With an preliminary capability of 24 megawatts, the power is submerged at a depth of 10 meters within the Lin-gang Particular Zone, throughout the China Pilot Free Commerce Zone in Shanghai. This location permits seawater for use as a pure cooling system, decreasing the proportion of power used to chill the infrastructure to lower than 10 p.c.
This function solves one of many major power consumption challenges of standard knowledge facilities, the place air con programs usually account for 40 to 50 p.c of the entire electrical energy required to function.
The thermal effectivity of the UDC is instantly mirrored in its power-usage effectiveness, or PUE. This metric is utilized by the trade to judge the power efficiency of an information heart; 1.0 represents the utmost theoretical effectivity. In its first section, the Lin-gang facility is designed to attain a PUE of not more than 1.15, a determine thought-about state-of-the-art throughout the trade.
Below this identical cooling precept, HiCloud opened the world’s first industrial underwater knowledge heart in 2023 in Hainan, an island situated in southern China. Nonetheless, the Shanghai complicated marks a milestone as the primary to function utilizing offshore wind energy.
Development of the UDC was accomplished in mid-October final 12 months. According to the Chinese government, “in comparison with conventional onshore knowledge facilities, the mission is designed to make use of greater than 95 p.c inexperienced electrical energy, decreasing power consumption by 22.8 p.c, and water and land use by one hundred pc and greater than 90 p.c, respectively.”
The opening of the complicated is a vital step in China’s efforts to optimize power provide by way of renewable sources and, on the identical time, maintain its management in computing capability linked to AI improvement.
A report just lately revealed by the UN factors out that solely 32 nations host knowledge facilities specialised in synthetic intelligence. Of that international infrastructure, about 90 p.c is concentrated in two nations: China and the USA.
Each powers have taken steps to safe the power demanded by AI improvement, albeit by way of totally different approaches. Whereas the USA has lowered investments and proposals associated to the power transition, China seeks to scale back its dependence on fossil fuels each to fulfill its local weather targets and to scale back its vulnerability to exterior suppliers.
Beijing’s power self-sufficiency technique stands out on this context. Because the world’s largest power client, the nation is exploring applied sciences starting from using supplies corresponding to thorium and bismuth to the accelerated enlargement of renewable energies and nuclear technology.
Final 12 months, a brand new power regulation got here into drive, which prioritizes the event of renewable sources and hydrogen so as to scale back dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen nationwide power safety. The laws additionally obliges the authorities to set minimal targets for consumption from clear sources.
In parallel, the nation launched a profound reform of its electrical energy market. As of June 2025, all photo voltaic and wind power is required to be traded by way of market mechanisms or auctions, progressively eliminating the previous feed-in tariff schemes. These measures, accompanied by monetary incentives and the phasing out of legacy subsidies, intention to spice up funding in clear applied sciences and enhance the effectivity of the power system.
China’s power transition just isn’t solely pushed by environmental issues. It is usually a part of a long-term financial and geopolitical technique geared toward strengthening its technological and industrial autonomy. On this context, the launch of the UDC represents a major step ahead that strengthens the nation’s place vis-à-vis the USA and the remainder of the world within the race to construct the infrastructure that can help the following technology of synthetic intelligence and different technological advances.
This text initially appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
