China Is Taking Its AI Boom Under the Sea
China Is Taking Its AI Boom Under the Sea
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-Is-Taking-Its-AI-Boom-Under-the-Sea.html
Publish Date: 2026-06-20 15:00:00
Source Domain: oilprice.com
The data centre industry has taken off in the last few years, as tech companies look to develop the massive computing power needed to run complex operations, such as artificial intelligence. Thousands of data centres are being developed on land, but now, some countries are looking to establish innovative models in alternative locations, such as underwater.
In May, China launched the world’s first wind-powered underwater data centre off the coast of Shanghai, with an investment of around $238 million. The 24 MW-capacity Shanghai Lingang undersea data centre demonstration was developed by HiCloud Technology and the state-owned China Communications Construction. It is located over 10 miles off Shanghai’s coast and is submerged 10 metres below the water’s surface, mainly powered by an offshore wind farm. The data centre was developed in the Lin-gang Special Zone, within the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone.
The data centre’s power demand is over one-fifth lower than that of a land-based equivalent as it is powered by green energy, according to Chinese government data. In addition, it is naturally cooled by submersion, thereby significantly reducing its freshwater burden. In conventional land-based data centres, between 25 and 40 per cent of the facility’s electricity demand is due to the need to pipe cool water around the servers to prevent overheating, a practice that has often prompted opposition from environmentalists and local residents.
“Compared to traditional onshore data centres, the project is designed to use more than 95 per cent green electricity, reducing energy consumption by 22.8 per cent, and water and land use by 100 per cent and more than 90 per cent, respectively,” The Chinese government reported.
The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health predicts that data centres worldwide may use as much as 9.3 trillion litres of water by 2030, enough to meet the potable water needs of around 1.3 billion…
