Over the past couple of years, China has invested more than $6.1 billion in the development of a network of data centers in the country, Reuters reports, citing data from the newly formed National Data Bureau, which reports to the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Reform Commission, NDRC). Private investors invested another $28 billion. In total, according to NDRC estimates, the development of a new data center network may require up to $63 billion annually.
As of the end of June 2024, large investments were made as part of the Eastern Data, Western Computing project, which started in 2022. It involves the construction of large data center campuses in the western regions of the country, where there is a lot of accessible and cheap energy, and the transfer of data processing there from the densely populated eastern provinces.
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New large data center campuses have been built in the Inner Mongolia region, Ningxia, Gansu, Guizhou provinces, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as the Yangtze Delta and other territories. It is expected that in addition to “national computing hubs”, the construction of dozens of small data centers is planned, DataCenter Dynamics clarifies. A total of 1.95 million racks have been put into operation, of which 63% are already in use.
China is increasing investment in its computing projects despite tightening sanctions from the United States. Washington has banned the sale of advanced chips to China, as well as other components and equipment for their production, and new restrictions are being prepared in the field of supercomputers. US officials say the restrictions are intended to prevent China from developing chips for AI systems and pursuing military programs. China is also accused of violating human rights. Among the banned components are advanced NVIDIA accelerators, as well as equipment for chip production, primarily from ASML from the Netherlands. However, recently it has been repeatedly reported that China has made great strides in creating its own solutions in the semiconductor industry.