China goes rural with data centers in quest to power AI

GUIAN NEW AREA, CHINA – In China’s hilly Guizhou province, a cluster of European-style buildings complete with a clock tower and a multi-arched bridge emits a low, permanent hum — a clue to its unexpected identity as tech giant Huawei’s largest data center. The town-like complex is unique in design, but not in its placement. Dozens of data centers have been constructed in the southwestern province in recent years.

They are part of a government strategy that has seen much of the digital infrastructure for breakneck artificial intelligence development across China’s eastern seaboard established in the country’s less populated, rural west.