Inside Inner Mongolia, China's fastest-growing AI data center region, where construction is accelerating with low building cost and no public backlash

If you build or contract for hyperscale data centers, construction costs for the largest sites in China are now a fifth of US levels.

Inner Mongolia, China, is rapidly developing as a major AI data center region, driven by low construction costs and minimal public opposition, in stark contrast to the rising anti-data center sentiment in the US. The Galaxy campus in Ulanqab, planned for up to 800MW of IT capacity, is a prime example. Its initial 120MW phase was completed in under a year at a fraction of US costs. The region boasts a massive construction workforce, facilitating rapid development of projects like the 22 data center projects underway in the Chahar High-tech Zone. Envision Group, a renewable energy integrator, is a key player, vertically integrating its data center operations with its own wind farms, power lines, and manufacturing facilities for components like batteries and power modules. The Galaxy campus utilizes an 800V DC power system and an advanced cooling design that eliminates central chillers, showcasing China's leading edge in data center infrastructure technology and efficiency.

China's rapid advancement in AI data center construction, particularly in Inner Mongolia, highlights a significant divergence in global infrastructure development. The region's ability to build at scale, with extreme cost efficiency and speed—a 120MW phase completed in a year for one-fifth the US cost—suggests a potentially disruptive force in the market. This development is underpinned by a massive, readily available construction workforce and a vertically integrated approach by companies like Envision Group, which controls power generation, energy storage, and data center infrastructure.

The technological innovations, such as widespread adoption of 800V DC power systems and efficient cooling designs that bypass traditional chillers, position China at the forefront of data center efficiency and scalability. These advancements, developed and deployed at scale in China, may soon influence or be adopted by global data center architectures, particularly for AI workloads demanding massive power and cooling.