China’s state‑run operator has put a 24 MW data centre under the sea. The plant draws power from offshore wind turbines and cools its servers with the surrounding seawater.
The move sidesteps the need for diesel generators or high‑capacity chillers that typical data centres rely on. By coupling renewable generation with natural cooling, the site claims lower operating costs and a smaller carbon footprint.
Most land‑based centres consume between 10‑30 MW per megawatt of compute and depend on grid electricity plus mechanical cooling. This offshore model shows a different balance of power and heat management, though its scalability remains to be seen.
If the concept proves reliable, future hubs could follow the same formula, but the engineering challenges of maintenance and latency under water are still untested.