October 22, 2025
In a significant step for sustainable digital infrastructure, Chinese firm HiCloud has launched a demonstration project that directly powers an underwater data center with offshore wind energy. The company simultaneously announced an ambitious plan to collaborate with industrial partners on a massive 500MW subsea data center deployment.
The newly inaugurated demonstration site is located off the coast of Shanghai, adjacent to the Lingang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. While the exact location of the powering wind turbines was not disclosed, previous reports indicate the underwater facility provides 2.3MW of data center capacity.
HiCloud heralded the project as a major achievement. "This marks a significant milestone for the Lingang Special Area in deeply integrating the digital economy, new energy, and the marine economy," the company stated. "It also represents a major initiative by Shanghai to support national strategies and build a global hub for technological innovation."
The launch event served as the foundation for a much larger endeavor. HiCloud signed a cooperation agreement with partners Shenergy Group, Shanghai Telecom, Shanghai INESA, and CCCC Third Harbor Engineering Company to jointly develop a 500MW underwater data center. Specifics regarding the location and construction timeline for this large-scale project remain undisclosed.
HiCloud, a division of Highlander, is building upon its prior experience in subsea technology. The company previously developed what it calls the world's first underwater data center modules off the coast of Hainan Province. Its journey began with an initial experiment in 2021, followed by its first commercial deployment in 2023. As recently as February 2025, the company expanded its Hainan cluster with an additional module housing 400 high-performance servers.
The concept of subsea data centers has attracted other players, most notably Microsoft with its Project Natick, launched off the U.S. Pacific coast in 2015 and followed by a pilot in the North Sea in 2018. However, it was confirmed last year that the cloud giant has since abandoned its underwater efforts. The field now includes at least two startups, Subsea Cloud and NetworkOcean, who are also pursuing similar underwater data center technologies.
SOURCE DCD
