China has launched what it calls the world's first wind-powered underwater data center off the coast of Shanghai. The facility sits 32 feet below the surface, surrounded by over 50 wind turbines, and houses about 2,000 servers. It runs at 24 megawatts and uses ocean water for cooling, which cuts energy use compared to land-based data centers that spend up to 40% of their power on cooling alone. The project aims to reduce freshwater consumption and land use, two major problems for the data center industry. HiCloud, the company behind the project, previously launched an underwater data center near Hainan in 2023. That facility saved about 26,000 tons of water per year and cut carbon emissions equivalent to removing 600 cars from the road. The new Shanghai facility is designed to operate for up to 25 years, though corrosion, pressure, and marine growth remain challenges. The company is monitoring environmental effects, and early data shows less than one degree Celsius of water temperature rise near the modules.
