- China submerged nearly 2,000 AI servers beneath the ocean near Shanghai
- Seawater now cools Chinese AI servers without traditional industrial chillers operating continuously
- China connected offshore wind farms directly to an underwater artificial intelligence facility
China has begun commercial operations at an underwater data center where sealed server modules operate beneath the ocean using seawater for passive cooling.
The project combines offshore wind generation with subsea computing infrastructure to reduce electricity pressures linked to artificial intelligence expansion worldwide.
This underwater data center sits roughly 35 meters below the ocean surface near Shanghai’s Lingang Special Area and houses nearly 2,000 servers, including GPU clusters from China Telecom and LinkWise.
Stable ocean temperatures aid cooling
Chinese authorities and private engineering company HiCloud Technology jointly developed the $226 million installation.
This 24-megawatt installation processes artificial intelligence workloads, 5G services, and large-scale data annotation operations requiring substantial computing capacity.
Unlike conventional land-based facilities using industrial cooling systems, the underwater structure depends heavily on naturally stable ocean temperatures surrounding pressure-resistant server modules.
Cooling demands have increasingly become a major obstacle for modern data centers because advanced GPU clusters generate enormous heat during continuous computing operations.
According to Chinese media reports, the underwater installation achieved a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating below 1.15, lower than the industry average hovering around 1.5.
A lower PUE indicates that more electricity supports computing tasks directly instead of auxiliary systems such as cooling equipment, ventilation, and infrastructure maintenance.
Industry analysts have increasingly examined alternative cooling methods because expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure continues placing pressure on national power grids and electricity availability.
The Shanghai project also reflects China’s broader effort to integrate renewable energy generation directly into digital infrastructure.
Offshore wind farms connected to the underwater facility reportedly provide a substantial share of operational electricity, reducing their dependence on conventional grid-based energy supplies.
Previous projects faced bottlenecks
Authorities described the project as the “world’s first” offshore wind-powered underwater data center operating at commercial scale, although underwater computing experiments already existed elsewhere.
Microsoft previously tested submerged data center capsules through its Project Natick initiative, conducted near Scotland and California before discontinuing commercial development efforts.
Those earlier experiments nevertheless suggested underwater systems could experience lower hardware failure rates because sealed environments limited exposure to oxygen and temperature fluctuations.
However, large-scale underwater deployments continue facing significant engineering concerns involving corrosion, pressure sealing, subsea cable durability, and long-term hardware accessibility during emergencies.
Replacing malfunctioning equipment underwater remains considerably more complicated than conventional facilities, where technicians can physically inspect servers and infrastructure within minutes.
Operators therefore depend heavily on remote monitoring technologies, modular sealed systems, and redundant infrastructure intended to minimize direct maintenance requirements throughout operational lifespans.
Similar concepts continue to emerge globally as governments and technology companies examine unconventional approaches for handling artificial intelligence infrastructure demands without overwhelming terrestrial resources.
Recent reports detailed how startup Panthalassa, backed by Peter Thiel, is developing floating data centers using wave energy and ocean water cooling systems.
Although underwater facilities may reduce cooling energy consumption substantially, long-term operational reliability remains uncertain because large commercial deployments remain relatively uncommon worldwide.
Via Toms Hardware
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