China drops 2,000 servers underwater to achieve ultra‑efficient seawater cooling
China has launched the world’s first commercial underwater data center, submerging nearly 2,000 AI servers 35 meters below the sea near Shanghai. The $226 million facility uses seawater for passive cooling and is powered directly by offshore wind farms, achieving a PUE below 1.15 — far more efficient than typical land‑based data centers. While Microsoft previously experimented with similar concepts through its Project Natick underwater modules, China’s installation is the first to deploy the approach at full commercial scale. The installation supports AI workloads, 5G services, and large‑scale data annotation, while addressing growing energy and cooling pressures caused by global AI expansion.