China unveils world’s first wind-powered underwater data center
China has completed construction of the world’s first wind-powered underwater data center (UDC) in Shanghai, marking a major milestone in green computing infrastructure.
The project, located in the Lin-gang Special Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, received an investment of 1.6 billion yuan (about 226 million U.S. dollars) and has a total power capacity of 24 megawatts, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.
According to the Lin-gang administrative committee, the project represents a breakthrough in combining underwater data centers with offshore renewable energy. It serves as a model for low-carbon digital infrastructure and local utilization of offshore wind power.
Compared to traditional land-based data centers, the underwater facility is designed to use more than 95 percent green electricity, cutting power consumption by 22.8 percent and reducing both water and land use by over 90 percent. Su Yang, general manager of Shanghai Hicloud Technology, one of the project’s contractors, said the design leverages seawater for natural cooling, lowering cooling-related energy consumption from 40–50 percent to below 10 percent.
Phase one of the project has achieved a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of no higher than 1.15, an industry-leading level. China’s 2024 green data center policy requires all new or retrofitted large-scale centers to reach a PUE below 1.25 by the end of 2025, and no higher than 1.2 for national computing hub nodes.
Wu Xiaohua, deputy secretary of the Party committee of the Lin-gang Special Area, described the completion as a milestone for integrating digital, marine, and renewable energy industries. It also aligns with Shanghai’s ambition to become a global center for technological innovation.
Shanghai is rapidly expanding its intelligent computing industry. By 2027, the city aims to boost its intelligent computing cloud sector to over 200 billion yuan, with a targeted computing capacity of 200 EFLOPS.
Huang Dinan, chairman of Shenergy Group, another project partner, highlighted that the East China Sea’s abundant wind resources—exceeding 3,000 utilization hours annually—provide a steady supply of green energy for Shanghai’s economy.
On Tuesday, Shanghai Hicloud Technology, Shenergy Group, China Telecom’s Shanghai branch, INESA, and the Third Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd. of China Communications Construction Company signed an agreement to launch a 500-megawatt offshore wind-powered UDC project.
Wang Shifeng, chairman of Third Harbor Engineering, noted that while underwater data centers are still in their early stages, advancements in core technologies and cost efficiency are needed for large-scale deployment.
The project adds a new dimension to China’s “East Data, West Computing” initiative, launched in 2022 to balance data storage and processing between coastal and inland regions, further strengthening the nation’s integrated computing network.
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