Sources: Reuters.com
On Thursday, a senior government official said that China has invested over 43.5 billion yuan ($6.12 billion) in a nationwide project to build computing data centers despite tech export restrictions from the United States. Beijing officially launched the initiative, dubbed “Eastern Data, Western Computing,” in early 2022 as part of President Xi Jinping’s push to build a “Digital China.” China’s massive investment in computing comes as it faces increasing restrictions from the United States. The United States has limited exports of some advanced computing products, including those from industry leader Nvidia.
The “Eastern Data, Western Computing” project includes plans to construct eight major data center hubs in western regions. This strategy aims to utilize the abundant energy resources in the West and transfer computing power to the economic hubs along the coast.
Beyond direct government spending, Beijing has also sought to attract other types of investment, including private capital. Eight data center hubs have attracted more than 200 billion yuan in total investment. The project has installed over 1.95 million server racks, of which about 63% are currently in use.
