Shanghai Launches World’s First Wind-computing Synergy Project

(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 14th Aug, 2025) SHANGHAI, 13th August, 2025 (WAM) - As AI adoption surges, global demand for computing power is rising at an unprecedented pace, driving up electricity consumption. Finding ways to increase green energy use while cutting costs has become a global challenge for the computing and power sectors. At Shanghai Lingang International Data Port, the world’s first “land-based data, sea-based computing + wind-computing synergy” project is now underway. Meanwhile, China’s pioneering “East Data, West Computing” initiative has also been successfully implemented.

According to SMG report, roughly 10 kilometres offshore from Shanghai Lingang, massive wind turbines harness sea winds, converting them into electricity. Starting September 20, a specially designed four-story facility will be deployed on the seabed beneath the wind farm.

In June, Lingang signed an agreement with Shanghai HiCloud to implement the “land-based data, sea-based computing” model—transferring data generated on land to offshore facilities for processing, while using seawater for natural cooling to reduce energy consumption. This highly challenging concept had previously only been tested by microsoft’s Project Natick in 2015.

Hicloud has established itself at Lingang International Data Port to undertake the world’s first “direct offshore wind power supply with natural seawater cooling” project.

The initiative involves a total investment of 1.6 billion Yuan (approximately USD 222 million), with a planned total capacity of 24 megawatts and a Phase I demonstration capacity of 2.3 megawatts. Green power will account for over 90% of the total supply.

Also in Shanghai’s Lingang area, on July 8, China Telecom Lingang Computing Power Park responded to a virtual power plant dispatch order by seamlessly transferring ongoing AI computing tasks to a data centre in Shiyan, Hubei—over 1,000 kilometers away—in just three minutes. The single-machine load of the computing equipment dropped by 75% simultaneously. This marks the nation’s first-ever “cross-province computing power transfer,” demonstrating the feasibility of real-time, imperceptible “East Data, West Computing” operations.

This achievement moves the concept of “computing-electricity coordination” from theory into practice. The Lingang Computing Power Park has also built a “10,000-GPU Liquid-Cooled AI Computing Pool” to improve cooling efficiency for large-scale AI computing systems. Going forward, it will further integrate computing power and electricity data, making coordinated “computing-electricity operations" the norm.

Industry experts are calling for the early release of relevant technical standards to ultimately establish viable business models and pave the way for a national computing power exchange.