China is leveraging its surplus of renewable energy to support the development of artificial intelligence. Between 2022 and 2025, the country added more power-generation capacity than the entire existing power grid of the United States.
The government initiative, known as East Data, West Computing, aims to relocate data centers from densely populated eastern cities to western regions. These areas are abundant in solar, wind, and hydropower resources, which offer cheaper and cleaner electricity for AI workloads.
The strategy includes the establishment of eight national computing hubs and 10 data-center clusters. Under the new policy, new facilities are required to source over 80% of their electricity from clean energy providers.
To support this transition, the government is expanding nuclear energy capacity and constructing ultra-high-voltage transmission lines. These lines are designed to transport electricity over long distances with minimal energy loss.
Currently, data centers consume approximately 1.68% of China's total electricity. Projections indicate that this figure will rise to 3% by 2030, provided that infrastructure development keeps pace with the growing demand.
