China Is Taking Its AI Boom Under the Sea

Source Domain: oilprice.com

The data centre industry has seen significant growth in recent years, with a demand for massive computing power, especially for artificial intelligence applications.
China launched the world’s first wind-powered underwater data centre off the coast of Shanghai powered by an offshore wind farm, aiming to reduce energy, water, and land use compared to traditional data centres.
The Shanghai Lingang undersea data centre is fully submerged 10 metres below water, utilizing green energy and natural cooling to significantly reduce freshwater resources consumption and land use.
According to the Chinese government, the project uses over 95% green electricity which reduces energy consumption by 22.8%, and land and water use by 100% and over 90% respectively, compared to land-based data centres.
The UN predicts that data centres could consume around 9.3 trillion litres of water by 2030, suggesting an urgent need for innovative, more environmentally friendly data centre technologies.
Other industries are exploring alternative data centre locations; for instance, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hitachi are developing floating data centre models to reduce freshwater and land use.
Although risks to marine ecosystems exist from underwater data centres, industry experts believe any environmental impact will mainly be localized and manageable.

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