World's first underwater wind-powered data center begins operations in China

The world's first underwater wind-powered data center has begun operations off the coast of Shanghai, as China moves forward with solutions to the energy challenges posed by the country's artificial intelligence boom, the Guardian reports.

The Shanghai Lingang Underwater Data Center Demonstration Project, which was launched in May, has a capacity of 24 megawatts. It is a joint venture between HiCloud Technology and China Communications Construction, a state-owned company.

Located more than 10 km off the coast of Shanghai, the data center is submerged 10 meters below the water surface and is powered by a nearby offshore wind farm. According to the Chinese government, the data center reduces electricity consumption by more than a fifth compared to onshore data centers.

This is because, in addition to being powered by renewable energy, its overall energy requirements are lower due to the natural cooling effect that comes from being submerged in seawater.

In a traditional, land-based data center, between 25% and 40% of total electricity consumption comes from the need to distribute cold water around servers to prevent overheating.

Traditional data centers, known as the physical backbone of AI, are also under scrutiny for the amount of water they use. Locating data centers at sea reduces the need for fresh water.

This week, the United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health warned that the water footprint of data centers could reach 9,3 trillion liters by 2030 – enough to meet the annual water needs of all 1,3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa.

HiCloud launched the first commercial underwater data center on the tropical island of Hainan, in southern China, in 2023. But the launch in Shanghai is the first project to be powered by offshore wind. The wind farm is visible from the shores of Linggang, a high-tech free trade zone in eastern Shanghai that is also home to the Tesla Gigafactory.

China is not the first country to experiment with underwater data centers for efficiency. In 2018, Microsoft launched a pilot project in the waters around Orkney, Scotland. Two years later, the company reported promising results, but progress has since stalled.

"Microsoft was earlier in proof of concept, while China was ahead in commercial implementation because it was able to more quickly combine market demand, industrial capability, naval engineering and policy support into a commercial project," said Dr Hanjiang Dong from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

China has made supporting AI a central pillar of its economic and development strategy. Last year, it released an AI action plan that calls for accelerating the construction of data centers. The government also pledged to “significantly increase” the supply of clean energy for AI infrastructure by 2030.

The Shanghai Lingang data center has received an investment of 1,6 billion yuan (£177 million), according to the Chinese government.

Underwater data centers also pose certain risks to the marine ecosystem, such as sediment disturbance or warming of seawater. Experts say these risks are likely manageable but require further monitoring.

Professor Rick Stafford, a marine biologist at Bournemouth University, said: "An underwater data centre is probably a good idea. Although cooling using seawater may cause localised increases in temperature, these will not be far-reaching."