WSJ- Beijing last month announced a $560 billion plan to rapidly scale up information infrastructure, including computing facilities, over the next five years.
- Chinese listed companies' investment will double this year to around $139 billion, according to Rhodium Group.
- The US is fighting over data centers, with nearly 90 slated for a city of fewer than two million people.
- China launched its national computing hub strategy in 2022, designating eight hubs and 10 clusters.
- China between 2022 and 2025 added capacity equivalent to that of industrial powersources across the entire US as of the end of 2025.
- As of last year, the US had roughly 10 times more AI datacenters than China, according to Stanford University.
The U.S. is facing a critical juncture in data center development as China unveils a massive $560 billion plan to enhance its computing infrastructure over the next five years.1
While the U.S. boasts approximately 10 times more AI data centers than China, the rapid pace of construction in China poses a significant challenge.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping emphasized the country's commitment to AI, stating, “China has embraced AI with open arms,” during a global conference in Shanghai.
Currently, over 700 million people in China utilize AI, highlighting the growing demand for data centers.
Despite the U.S. leading in investment, with $800 billion in AI data center funding, China's investment from listed companies is projected to double this year to around $139 billion, according to the Rhodium Group.2
Nick Corvino, a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, noted, “If you look at the overall production cost of building a data center, chips are the most important factor, and they just don’t have enough.”
Furthermore, China is expected to add capacity equivalent to that of industrial power sources across the entire U.S. by the end of 2025, raising alarms about the future of U.S. competitiveness in the tech sector.
The urgency of the situation is underscored by findings that China wasted enough excess green energy in the first half of 2026 to power the entire country of Mexico for a year, according to research from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Global Energy Monitor.
“China's listed companies will double data center investment this year to around $139 billion, per Rhodium Group, yet that remains less than one-fifth of the $800 billion from US peers. Beijing's $560 billion plan aims to rapidly scale up information infrastructure over the next five years, leveraging China's capacity to build fast.”
