China’s Ulanqab is building AI capacity around renewable power

Ulanqab is pairing data centres with wind and solar power as China expands computing capacity for AI. The city’s intelligent computing already accounts for more than 90% of its computing capacity, according to CGTN, making the build-out a concrete test of whether AI infrastructure can grow alongside cleaner electricity.

Watch Desk analysis

What happened

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Ulanqab on Friday and called for computing infrastructure to develop efficiently, safely and with lower environmental costs. The city is part of the Inner Mongolia national computing hub and the “East Data, West Computing” project, which links demand in eastern China with computing resources in western regions.

Ulanqab combines wind and solar resources with a cool climate that can reduce cooling needs. Local authorities coordinate power generation, electricity networks, storage and computing facilities; some industrial parks connect directly to green electricity supplies. Huawei and ByteDance have established operations in the city, CGTN reports.

The article says intelligent computing made up more than 90% of Ulanqab’s computing capacity by August. It also cites national figures: China’s computing centres used 170 billion kilowatt-hours in 2025, or 1.6% of national electricity use. Green electricity accounted for more than 80% of consumption at new data centres in locations including Inner Mongolia’s Horinger and Qingyang in Gansu.

Why it matters

AI’s growth is often discussed in chips and models; the electricity bill is rather less glamorous, but it is part of the same story. Ulanqab’s approach aims to put computing close to renewable generation, while using the region’s climate and network links to serve demand including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area.

The figures are reported snapshots, not proof that every facility runs on renewable power or that the model will work everywhere. Still, they show how computing demand is already shaping decisions about where infrastructure gets built and how it is powered.

Our read

This is a useful infrastructure story, not a claim that AI has become energy-free. The interesting question is whether pairing data centres with renewables can keep pace as demand rises, and whether local businesses and workers benefit from the build-out as well as the operators.

What to watch

• Whether Ulanqab’s computing capacity and renewable supply continue to grow together.
• How much electricity local data centres actually obtain from green sources.
• Whether the model produces measurable benefits for local businesses and workers.

Discussion spark: Should governments steer AI data centres towards regions with abundant renewable power, even if that means putting computing farther from major users?

Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.