Why China's 12.5GW Ulanqab cluster beats OpenAI's Stargate
Chinese ai companies are building a 12.5gw data center cluster in ulanqab, outpacing openai's stargate, though water scarcity threatens this new infrastructure hub.
a new goldman sachs report identifies ulanqab as the site of nearly 100 data centers with a planned capacity of 12.5 gigawatts, exceeding the projected 10gw of openai's stargate project. firms like deepseek, bytedance, alibaba, and xiaohongshu are investing directly in this infrastructure to capitalize on cheap energy and favorable cooling conditions, signaling a major shift toward capital-intensive self-reliance. the region's dry climate and proximity to beijing offer latency advantages, but local authorities are struggling to meet residential water demands. these projects could strain environmental resources even as they establish china's most powerful ai compute cluster.