Technology and Science04 September, 20263 min read
ByteDance Plans Inner Mongolia AI Data Center Cluster With 5–6 GW Capacity by Early 2028
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ByteDance plans Inner Mongolia data center adding 5–6 GW computing capacity by 2028 Early-stage talks with local firms are underway to develop the project
ByteDance’s Inner Mongolia build
ByteDance Ltd., the parent company of TikTok, is reportedly discussing plans to build an AI data center in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with the South China Morning Post citing sources that the project would add 5–6 gigawatts (GW) of computing capacity. The planned AI data center cluster is expected to be located in Jining District, Ulanqab, and ByteDance aims to take delivery of the facilities by early 2028. The Chosunbiz report says projections put the investment at hundreds of billions of yuan, and it cites a Dongwu Securities report that the initial investment required for a 1 GW AI data center typically stands at 160 billion yuan.
Chosunbiz also reports that Bloomberg said ByteDance secured $29.6 billion in loans from multiple banks, describing it as the second-largest U.S. dollar-denominated loan in Asia this year. The same Chosunbiz account links the push to China’s broader AI infrastructure race, saying Alibaba and Tencent sharply increased expenditure on AI-related infrastructure and computing resources, with capital expenditures jumping 75% and 176% year over year in the second quarter this year.
Ulanqab pitches commuters
Inner Mongolia is pitching affordable homes and fast train access to Beijing commuters, with the region’s housing authority and officials from Hohhot, Chifeng, Ulanqab, and Duolun county concluding a three-day property showcase titled “I Have a Home in the Grasslands” in Beijing on Monday. The South China Morning Post says authorities stressed that high-speed rail connects Ulanqab to central Beijing in as little as 1.5 hours, and it gives average commercial housing prices across Inner Mongolia of about 5,800 yuan (US$863) per square metre. Under a three-year plan running through 2028, Ulanqab would focus on green computing for training and running large AI models, while encouraging investment in liquid cooling, computing hardware and AI software and talent.
The report also says Inner Mongolia’s housing market remains under pressure, with sales value and floor area of commercial properties falling 6.2 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, in the first half of this year. In the same broader push for computing capacity, Ulanqab is described by The Times of India as a city whose operating computing capacity reached 172,000P by August 2026, with intelligent computing accounting for more than 95 per cent, citing figures published by the Saihan District People’s Government.
Far East, AI, and energy
At the Eleventh Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed that development of the Far East remains a strategic priority and said that over the past eleven years, about 25 trillion rubles have been invested in the region. The Vietnam.vn account says Putin described a new phase of development in the Far East with a vision extending to 2036, and it lists priority areas including projects meeting local and Asian market needs and development of digital technology and artificial intelligence. The same source reports that Putin said Russia is entering a new phase of development in the Far East, and it adds that Moscow hopes to expand the Baikal–Amur line and across-Siberia, develop Arctic transportation corridors, and strengthen the carrying capacity of transport on the Northern Sea Route.
In a separate Saudi-published analysis summarized by بوابة الشروق, China adopted in March the 15th Five-Year Plan covering 2026-2030, focusing on “high-quality development” and prioritizing technological innovation and achieving self-sufficiency in science. That same بوابة الشروق summary ties China’s competitiveness to “inexpensive Russian energy sources that Europe rejected,” and it says two new projects within a single scheme likely to be approved during the Russian president’s visit to China are the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline and the Soyuz Vostok pipeline.