Data centers in Sichuan: 2 projects mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Sichuan's data centers run on cheap hydropower, which is also their weak point. Hydropower supplies about 80% of the province's electricity, and about a third of that generation is sent east to coastal provinces. Cryptocurrency miners came for the cheap power first; in June 2021 provincial regulators ordered about 26 mining companies across 15 hydro-rich counties shut within days and barred local governments from approving new ones.

That dependence nearly caused a crisis in the summer of 2022, when China's driest summer in six decades cut reservoirs to half their normal levels. Factories in Sichuan and neighboring Chongqing shut for at least six days, Chengdu told households to keep air conditioning no lower than 27C, and the city of Dazhou cut power on a rolling three-hour schedule. Sichuan's coal plants generated 93% more that summer than two years before to cover the gap.

Sichuan is now paired with Chongqing as one of China's eight national computing hubs, centered on the Tianfu data center cluster in and around Chengdu, with smaller sites in Mianyang, Deyang, Ya'an, Yibin and Dazhou. China Telecom is building a 200,000-square-meter, 10,000-cabinet facility in the Yibin Lingang Economic and Technological Development Zone to serve Chengdu and Chongqing. What to watch is how the next dry summer is handled: in 2022, cheap hydropower disappeared for weeks and was replaced by coal.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.