Data hubs advance digital economy

The world's first commercial underwater data center has successfully become operational off the coast of Hainan province, and the first sub-sea data hub powered by offshore wind is set to debut in Shanghai this October — a twin breakthrough advancing the nation's digital economy with greener infrastructure.

The Hainan underwater data center project, developed by Beijing Highlander Digital Technology Co, and backed by Hainan State-owned assets supervision and administration commission, was launched in 2022 in Lingshui Li autonomous county, Hainan, and is an important part of the "East Data, West Computing" strategy.

The project plans to deploy 100 data pods in three phases. The first phase was completed in November 2023 and the Hainan underwater AI computing center went live in February 2025.

Using natural seawater cooling, the underwater and offshore facilities place servers in the ocean or on floating platforms to lower power use, operating closer to coastal users, with faster deployment, lower energy costs, less land use and greater reliability than land-based ones, Beijing Highlander said.

The company is now developing the next step: an underwater facility integrated with offshore wind power in Shanghai's Lingang Special Area, with its launch date planned for Oct 15. The company said the model combines renewable energy and high-performance computing to meet surging global demand for low-carbon digital infrastructure.

Pu Ding, general manager of Beijing Highlander's Hainan project, likened the company's role to that of a "real estate developer in the digital world", offering customized "computing shops" for clients such as Alibaba Cloud. Other user cases include large-scale AI model training, artificial intelligence big models and cloud services.

As data demand continues to grow, the company estimates that China's demand for AI computing will rise 500-fold by 2030, while general computing demand will grow tenfold. Underwater data centers, Pu said, will help secure a first-mover advantage in the global race to build a greener and more efficient digital infrastructure.

Gao Qingpeng, director at the department of foreign economic relations of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said: "Commercial underwater data centers are a new form of digital infrastructure. Though still in the exploratory stage, the project has already identified a potential path for Hainan to build a competitive edge in its digital economy.

"For the energy-intensive data center industry, the projects offer a low-carbon — potentially even zero-carbon — alternative that could serve as a global pilot," Gao said.

Highlander said its new project in Shanghai, which combines wind power and a shared marine cable, has lower costs than its land-based peers.

Ma Mengmeng contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn