China Leads in Building Undersea Data Centers to Cool AI Infrastructure

To grow its economy, China is betting big on artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other digital technology—and a big part of that bet involves rapidly building data centers to boost computing power.

These massive collections of servers gobble up growing amounts of energy, and each one cycles through hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day to carry away the heat they generate.

These facilities—in China and beyond—will increasingly compete with water demand linked directly to human survival, from agriculture to daily drinking.

China is pulling ahead of the rest of the world in sinking data centers that power AI into the ocean as an alternate way to keep them cool.