China is building underwater data centers. A new stage in the competition for artificial intelligence

China is building underwater data centers for artificial intelligence. The servers go to the bottom of the sea, where the water cools them. It's Beijing's response to the U.S.'s plans to take computing power into orbit. In the AI race, not only chips, but also electricity, cooling and space are important.

Why is China building data centers at the bottom of the sea?

The first underwater data centers to support artificial intelligence are already working off the coasts of Hainan Island and in Shanghai. Hundreds were placed in sealed steel pods, and thousands of servers were eventually placed. They are to perform the calculations needed for AI models, cloud services and large data processing systems.

At first glance, the idea seems exotic. Why build a server room at the bottom of the sea?

The answer is simple: energy and cooling.

Artificial intelligence consumes energy

With the explosion The popularity of artificial intelligence the world has entered a new technological race. However, AI needs not only advanced processors, but also huge amounts of electricity.

Modern data centres are increasingly like power plants. Much of the energy consumed is consumed by cooling systems. The greater the computing power, the more heat you need to drain.

And this is where the Chinese saw their chance.

Instead of building more halls full of air conditioners, they decided to use the largest natural cooling system available on Earth – the sea.

Underwater data centers respond to China's growing AI needs

The servers closed in airtight modules give heat to the surrounding water. The stable temperature at the bottom of the sea reduces the need for extensive refrigeration installations.

In practice, this means lower energy consumption, lower operating costs and greater efficiency of the whole system.

This is cooling, not the processors themselves, may prove to be one of the most important fields of competition in the global race for dominance in artificial intelligence.

Marine-powered data centres

The Chinese are not going to stop there.

The new data center launched under Shanghai was integrated into offshore wind farms. This creates an infrastructure that simultaneously provides the energy and computing power needed to develop AI.

According to the available information, the complex is expected to reach 24 MW power and operate about 2,000 servers. This is a scale to support advanced AI models, cloud services and large data analysis projects.

It's not just about technology anymore.

There is a much higher stake in this story.

Artificial intelligence becomes today what shipyards, factories, power plants or refineries were in the 20th century. A country with the highest computing power gains an economic, military and technological advantage.

In Beijing, they understand it well.

Therefore, undersea data centres can be seen not only as a technological or energy project, but also as part of the strategic infrastructure of the state. As important as gas pipelines, fiber optics, ports or offshore wind farms.

More and more parts of the digital world go under the sea.

Musk looks into space. China looks underwater

Here comes another interesting thread.

The United States and China have been competing for technological dominance for years. On the U.S. side there are ideas of taking part of the computing infrastructure into orbit.

The idea sounds attractive. In space access to Salt energycCommon is huge, and land-based constraints cease to matter.

The problem is, space isn't a free fridge.

There's no air or water in the vacuum that can take heat. Excess energy must be radiated into space. This is one of the hardest challenges for future orbital data centers.

The Chinese chose a less effective solution, but perhaps much more practical.

They don't go into space with servers. They're installing under the surface of the sea.

There they are cooled by a huge, stable mass of water. No rockets, no orbital infrastructure, no astronomical transport costs.

According to underwater analysis, data centers can be up to 40–60 percent more energy efficient than traditional server rooms.

New competition between China and the USA

This does not mean that underwater data centres are a solution without defects.

Experts point to high construction costs, complex maintenance work, corrosion risk and the need for protection Marine critical infrastructure Before the sabotage.

In the age of damaged gas pipelines, cut telecommunication cables and increasingly frequent hybrid activities, infrastructure located at the bottom of the sea becomes a potential target for attacks.

This means that underwater server farms may in future require the same protection as LNG terminals, wind farms or strategic energy connections.

But one thing is certain.

A few years ago, the world wondered where to build further data centers for artificial intelligence.

There are two answers today. Americans look up at the sky. The Chinese are looking down at the sea.