🇨🇳💿 China transforms remote grasslands into AI juggernaut

While the US struggles to connect power-hungry data centers to an increasingly strained grid, China is turning remote grasslands into one of the world’s fastest-growing computing hubs, the FT reports.

📌 Ulanqab, a city in south-central Inner Mongolia, has become Asia's fastest-growing data-center cluster, with 89 facilities built or planned and 15GW of committed capacity.

Nationwide, China operates 24GW of data-center capacity, more than the rest of Asia combined, with a further 50GW under construction or announced.

Why China is pulling ahead:

🔴 abundant cheap power: Inner Mongolia’s wind fleet (117 GW) plus coal delivers electricity at about $0.05/kWh - far below Beijing rates

🔴 prefab “lego” modules and on-site worker camps allow completion in 12–18 months, roughly 20 % cheaper than big-city projects and faster than typical US timelines

🔴 average temperatures of 4.3 °C slash cooling costs

🔴 some facilities connect to dedicated power generation, bypassing grid bottlenecks

Alibaba, Huawei, ByteDance and rising AI labs such as DeepSeek are already moving in. 

China is also using financial incentives to push the country’s massive data-center expansion toward greater reliance on domestic technology. 

Data centers that use Chinese-made processors instead of Nvidia’s AI chips can reportedly receive better and far more generous tax breaks, as well as discounts on electricity and water bills.

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