- China has officially launched a 24‑megawatt underwater data center with 2,000 servers.
- The Shanghai site uses seawater as a natural coolant, hitting a PUE below 1.15.
- US crypto miners such as Core Scientific are turning their sites into AI data centers.
A new technology race is emerging between the United States and China.
On one hand, China has launched what it calls the world’s first commercial underwater data center powered by offshore wind. On the other hand, US mining giant Core Scientific is accelerating its shift from Bitcoin mining to AI‑focused data centers.
Recent reports say Shanghai Hailanyun Technology, together with China Telecom and local authorities, has officially launched a 24‑megawatt underwater data center about 10 kilometers off Shanghai’s Lingang Special Area.
The project cost approximately $226 million and holds nearly 2,000 servers used for AI training and big data.
Today’s AI data centers consume massive amounts of power, and cooling often accounts for a large share of it. By putting servers underwater, the Shanghai site uses seawater as a natural coolant, hitting a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.15, which is far more efficient than most traditional data centers. Over 95% of its power reportedly comes straight from offshore wind farms in the area.
Chinese developers say the design cuts cooling energy by up to 30% and slashes land use by 90%.
From Bitcoin Mining to AI Infrastructure
While China is building new infrastructure from scratch, the US is taking another route by turning existing Bitcoin mining sites into AI campuses.
A notable example is Core Scientific, one of North America’s largest Bitcoin miners. In late April, it was reported that the company plans to turn a 300‑megawatt mining site in Pecos, Texas, into a huge 1.5-gigawatt AI data center campus.
During the Bitcoin mining boom, many mining companies accumulated access to vast amounts of electricity and land. Now, with AI computing demand exploding, those same assets are becoming prime real estate for hosting AI servers and GPU clusters.
Core Scientific is far from alone in this endeavor, since companies like CoreWeave and Crusoe have also moved big portions of their business toward AI infrastructure.
Bitcoin Mining: US vs China
For much of Bitcoin’s history, China dominated global mining. Before Beijing’s 2021 mining ban, China was estimated to control between 60% and 75% of the global Bitcoin hashrate.
However, all that changed after the crackdown, and the US became the main winner. By 2023-2025, the country had turned into the world’s biggest Bitcoin mining hub, handling about 35-40% of global hashrate.
Major American mining hubs emerged in Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Tennessee. Numerous US companies invested heavily in large mining sites powered by natural gas, nuclear energy, hydroelectric power, and renewables.
Though China never completely disappeared from the mining map, the country has shifted much of its focus toward AI infrastructure and semiconductor development, rather than openly competing in Bitcoin mining.
Related: AI Data Centers Demand to Surge 220% by 2030, Reshaping Crypto Energy Markets
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