China has unveiled the world’s first commercial underwater data centre in Lingshui County, south China’s Hainan Province, marking a new step in sustainable digital infrastructure.

Operating quietly beneath the sea, the facility uses natural seawater circulation for cooling, cutting electricity consumption by about 30 percent compared with conventional land-based data centres. According to Yan Wenrui, a technical specialist at a data centre company, the passive cooling approach means the energy saved could power “more than 10,000 households for a month” under current standards.

The design also sharply reduces freshwater use and land demand. Traditional data centres consume large volumes of freshwater for cooling, while the subsea facility relies entirely on seawater. Most infrastructure sits on the seabed, requiring only around one-fifth of the land footprint of an equivalent onshore centre.

Approved in 2021 and operational since 2022, the project supports content delivery network services vital for AI applications. Environmental tests show minimal impact, with temperature changes beyond a few metres described as “virtually negligible”.

As data demand grows, the Lingshui centre offers a low-impact model for future computing infrastructure.

Source: China Central Television