China builds AI data centers in Inner Mongolia as US opposition grows

Left · 1China is expanding data center construction across Inner Mongolia as opposition to data centers grows in the United States, according to NBC News. 1 Left · 1NBC News said China is leaning on its manufacturing edge to try to catch up to the US on artificial intelligence. 1 Left · 1CBS News reported from Ulanqab, where multi-story data centers are going up on farmland. It described the site as the size of a small American city and as the biggest and fastest-growing infrastructure project in China. 2

Left · 1CBS said Inner Mongolia has dozens of data centers under construction, more than any other part of China. It gave the reasons for choosing Ulanqab as cheap, abundant energy (still mainly fossil fuels, plus wind and solar), a cold climate that lowers cooling costs, and cheaper land and labor. 2 Left · 1Citing experts quoted by the Financial Times, CBS said Chinese data centers cost about one-fifth as much to build as US ones. It said as many as 30,000 workers have been brought in from across China, and that a local farmer and a food-stall owner welcomed the project. 2 Left · 1CBS said US data centers face major community opposition that could be emboldened by the Democrats' strong midterm showing, while Chinese developers face few hurdles. It noted that China's government does not generally tolerate protests and tightly controls media messaging, and cited a UN survey from last year that it said found as many as 80% of people in China support data center construction. 2

Left · 1Henry Wang, founder and president of the Center For China and Globalization, told CBS there is no opposition to data centers in China, in contrast to the US. 2 Left · 1CBS listed Huawei, Alibaba, ByteDance, DeepSeek, Baidu, Z.ai, ZData and VNET as active in Inner Mongolia. It said Chinese AI models are believed to be about six months behind US rivals, largely because of limits on high-end chip sales, but that the gap is narrowing. 2 Left · 1CBS said China has more than double the US power generation capacity. Wang argued power, not chips, may decide the AI race and that China currently has the edge, a view CBS attributed to some experts. 2