We’ve identified an Alibaba data center in Zhangbei, China with an...
Epoch AI@EpochAIResearch
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Dec 08, 2025
~1 min read
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We’ve identified an Alibaba data center in Zhangbei, China with an estimated 200–500 MW capacity. Roughly half of that predates the AI boom and likely hosts little modern compute. But several newer buildings show a high power density consistent with advanced AI chips. 🧵
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We first found out about an Alibaba facility located in Zhangbei from a web search about Chinese data centers. We then purchased high-resolution satellite images of the region and identified 20 data center buildings, many more than we expected.
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How do we know the power capacity of these buildings? Cooling equipment gives it away. For example, each building shown below has 40 air-cooled chillers with 12 fans. Plugging this into our model, we estimate 38 MW of cooling capacity, which is closely related to IT capacity.
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We also noticed a mid-flight change to the design of 6 buildings from 2024 to 2025. The updated design puts many more chillers on the roof, roughly doubling the power density. This is an unusual development, and suggests that more advanced chips are being installed.
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In total, we estimate between 200–500 MW of total facility power is operational for Alibaba in Zhangbei today. This power capacity is close to leading US data centers, but the compute capacity is significantly lower, due to the older buildings with slower chips.
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Learn more about Alibaba Zhangbei and other data centers using our free Satellite Explorer! epoch.ai/data/data-cent…
