China has completed the world’s first wind-powered underwater data center (UDC) in Shanghai’s Lin-gang Special Area, combining offshore wind energy with subsea computing. The $226 million (CNY 1.6 billion) facility, with a 24 MW capacity, sources 97% of its power from offshore wind.
Here are some of its key features:
- Seawater cooling reducing energy use to below 10% (vs. 40% in traditional centers)
- Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio below 1.15, surpassing China’s 2025 green data center target of 1.25
- Land use cutes by more than 90% and total elimination of water consumption.
The project aligns with Shanghai’s ambition to create a global smart computing and clean energy hub, aiming for 200 exaFLOPS by 2025.