China is massively expanding its data center infrastructure in northern and northwestern regions through its « Eastern Data, Western Computing » strategy launched in 2021-2022, with over 50% of new projects now located in areas where electricity prices are approximately 50% lower than in eastern coastal regions. The city of Ulanqab in Inner Mongolia exemplifies this trend, with nearly 100 facilities representing 12.5 gigawatts of pledged capacity, hosting tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and AI specialist DeepSeek. China’s total data center capacity is projected to nearly double to 329 terawatt-hours by 2030, with a target of 80% renewable energy sourcing. Northern regions are expected to outpace China’s major cities in total computing capacity by 2028, leveraging surplus wind and solar power that was previously curtailed due to lack of local demand.
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