China has develop into the primary nation on the earth to function an underwater knowledge middle, or UDC, powered by wind. Situated off the coast of Shanghai, the advanced represents a big advance within the nation’s technique to safe vitality provides within the face of the accelerated development of synthetic intelligence, cut back dependence on fossil fuels, and cut back the environmental influence 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 ability is submerged at a depth of 10 meters within the Lin-gang Particular Zone, inside the China Pilot Free Commerce Zone in Shanghai. This location permits seawater for use as a pure cooling system, decreasing the proportion of vitality used to chill the infrastructure to lower than 10 p.c.
This characteristic solves one of many important vitality consumption challenges of typical knowledge facilities, the place air-con programs usually account for 40 to 50 p.c of the full electrical energy required to function.
The thermal effectivity of the UDC is immediately mirrored in its power-usage effectiveness, or PUE. This metric is utilized by the business to guage the vitality efficiency of a knowledge middle; 1.0 represents the utmost theoretical effectivity. In its first part, the Lin-gang facility is designed to realize a PUE of not more than 1.15, a determine thought-about state-of-the-art inside the business.
Underneath this similar cooling precept, HiCloud opened the world’s first industrial underwater knowledge middle in 2023 in Hainan, an island situated in southern China. Nonetheless, the Shanghai advanced marks a milestone as the primary to function utilizing offshore wind energy.
Development of the UDC was accomplished in mid-October final yr. 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 vitality consumption by 22.8 p.c, and water and land use by 100% and greater than 90 p.c, respectively.”
The opening of the advanced is a vital step in China’s efforts to optimize vitality provide by means of renewable sources and, on the similar time, maintain its management in computing capability linked to AI growth.
A report not too long ago printed by the UN factors out that solely 32 nations host knowledge facilities specialised in synthetic intelligence. Of that world infrastructure, about 90 p.c is concentrated in two nations: China and the USA.
Each powers have taken steps to safe the vitality demanded by AI growth, albeit by means of totally different approaches. Whereas the USA has decreased investments and proposals associated to the vitality transition, China seeks to cut back its dependence on fossil fuels each to satisfy its local weather objectives and to cut back its vulnerability to exterior suppliers.
Beijing’s vitality self-sufficiency technique stands out on this context. Because the world’s largest vitality shopper, the nation is exploring applied sciences starting from the usage of supplies akin to thorium and bismuth to the accelerated growth of renewable energies and nuclear era.
Final yr, a brand new vitality legislation got here into pressure, which prioritizes the event of renewable sources and hydrogen as a way to cut back dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen nationwide vitality 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 vitality is required to be traded by means of market mechanisms or auctions, steadily 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 vitality system.
China’s vitality transition will not be solely pushed by environmental concerns. It’s also a part of a long-term financial and geopolitical technique aimed toward strengthening its technological and industrial autonomy. On this context, the launch of the UDC represents a big 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 may help the following era of synthetic intelligence and different technological advances.
This text initially appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
