China invested $6.1 billion in a state data center project in two years — the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project aims to utilize the country's undeveloped land

A data center aisle
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China invested $6.1 billion (or, more accurately, 43.5 billion yuan) into its new "Eastern Data, Western Computing" data center project launched in 2022. While many of its neighbors and global rivals attempt to restrict its technological ability, China is installing millions of server racks and computers connecting its western and eastern regions.

Liu Liehong, director of China's National Data Bureau, revealed the 43.5 billion yuan figure to the press today at the Big Data Expo, a worldwide data conference held in southwest China. Guizhou Province, where the Expo is being hosted, is a major hub within China for data centers, notable for being the region where Apple's Chinese data servers are located.

Per Liehong's Big Data Expo report, over 1.9 million server racks have been installed, with 1.2 racks populated across the hubs. China is wise to act quickly in populating its data centers, as global trade is not sympathetic to China's tech needs. The U.S.-China trade war over tech has been raging for years with no end; ASML boss Peter Wennick shared his belief that the chip war will continue for decades. As sanctions from the U.S., Taiwan, and EU levied on China continue to rise, China's tech woes will worsen.

It is unknown where all the "Eastern Data, Western Computing" project components will be sourced. Huawei has become a significant partner in the project's development, though the scope of involvement is unclear. President Xi Jinping's desire for a "digital China" powered exclusively by domestic hardware will likely mean that products from Nvidia or other non-Chinese companies will see limited use in these data centers.

Sunny Grimm
Contributing Writer

Sunny Grimm is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has been building and breaking computers since 2017, serving as the resident youngster at Tom's. From APUs to RGB, Sunny has a handle on all the latest tech news.