China Launches the “East Data West Computing” Initiative with National Compute Hubs and Data Center Clusters

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cyberspace Administration, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued a document approving the construction of national compute‑hub nodes in regions such as Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Greater Bay Area, Chengdu‑Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, and Ningxia, and planning ten data‑center clusters including the Zhangjiakou cluster. This marks the completion of the overall layout for a unified national big‑data center system and the full launch of the “East Data West Computing” project.

The phrase “East Data West Computing” means transmitting data generated in eastern China to western regions for processing, analogous to large‑scale infrastructure projects like South‑to‑North Water Transfer and West‑to‑East Power Transmission. It aims to stimulate economic development in the west while meeting the growing compute demand of eastern enterprises.

An industry alliance for the initiative has already been established in Lanzhou, Gansu, bringing together government bodies, major tech firms such as Huawei, Tencent, Didi, China Mobile, as well as leading universities, while cloud‑computing giants like Alibaba, Baidu, and Kuaishou are building data centers in western cities.

In the AI era, data volumes are exploding and AI models require ever‑greater compute power; global AI‑related compute demand is projected to double every 3.5 months, far outpacing supply growth. Consequently, compute capacity has become a critical infrastructure, with annual demand expected to rise over 20%.

Most of China’s data centers are currently concentrated in the east, where high land costs and energy constraints limit further expansion. The west, rich in renewable energy and lower land costs, offers a strategic location for new, large‑scale, energy‑efficient data centers.

China now hosts roughly 5 million standard racks with a total compute capacity of about 130 EFLOPS, and data‑center electricity consumption accounts for about 4% of national electricity use. The “East Data West Computing” policy sets strict targets: hub‑node data centers must achieve a rack utilization rate of at least 65% and a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) no higher than 1.20‑1.25.

The plan defines eight major compute hubs and ten national data‑center clusters. These hubs concentrate policy and resources to promote network, energy, and infrastructure optimization, encouraging the aggregation, scaling, and greening of data‑center operations and facilitating east‑west data flow and value transfer.

Each cluster covers a contiguous administrative area, hosting large‑scale data‑center projects that reduce latency, lower transmission costs, ensure reliable energy supply, and meet strict energy‑efficiency metrics.

For compute‑service providers, the initiative accelerates cloud‑network integration, improves service quality, and reduces network and power costs through more targeted resource planning. For users, it offers more convenient, cost‑effective compute services, helping accelerate digital transformation.

Beyond the compute sector, the data‑center industry chain spans civil engineering, IT equipment manufacturing, communications, software, and green energy, promising strong downstream investment and aligning with future development trends.

Given the high investment, risk, externalities, and monopoly characteristics of compute resources, the initiative underscores the importance of state‑level design and the role of major enterprises in international compute competition.