China's AI computing power landscape redrawn: over half of new data center projects surge toward the north and northwest

动察 Beating AI Flash News: China's new AI computing power is increasingly concentrating in the northern and northwestern regions. According to the latest statistics from BloombergNEF, more than half of the country's data center projects under construction or in planning are now located in the north and northwest, including areas like Inner Mongolia. It projects that by 2028, these regions will surpass traditional data center hubs such as Beijing and Shanghai to become the nation's largest computing power supply areas.

By 2030, the north and northwest are expected to account for about one-third of the country's total operational data center IT capacity. These regions attract data centers mainly due to cheaper land and electricity, as well as a climate more conducive to cooling. AI companies such as DeepSeek and Zhipu are also building large-scale data centers in these areas.

However, not all computing power will migrate westward. Tasks insensitive to latency, such as model training and cloud storage, are better suited for the west; while tasks requiring rapid responses, like autonomous driving, still need to remain close to users in the east.