A model of the world's first commercial undersea data center. /CMG
China has taken a step toward the world's first commercial data center under the sea. The data storage unit was submerged into the sea near Hainan Island on Friday.
The data center, once completed, will be 40 to 60 percent more power efficient than centers hosted ashore, according to Pu Ding, general manager of the project.
It took the engineers almost 3 hours to put the 1,300-tonne storage unit 35 meters underwater. The entire project is composed of 100 such units.
A storage unit of the world's first commercial undersea data center is put into the sea near south China's Hainan Province, November 24, 2023. /CMG
Putting data centers into the sea can be beneficial in many ways. The center can utilize sea water to cool the electronic parts, reducing the electricity cost of air conditioning.
"The entire data center can cool itself naturally," said Xie Qian, senior engineer of CTTL Terminals, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). "The water-cooling technology will also help increase the density of servers, boosting the computing power."
Additionally, undersea data centers make use of the vast space of the seabed to reduce land cost. They are also located far away from human habitats and face less interference.
The underwater environment is also free of dust and oxygen, thus electronic devices can last longer and break less often.
"Some of the undersea data centers will be located near coastal cities. So, they are closer to the core nodes of the network, which will make the network response faster," Xie explained.
Though companies like Microsoft have already tested underwater data centers and called the plan feasible, China's version will officially enter commercial operation and serve real customers.