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  • Category: Tech

On July 31, 2026, Bloomberg reported that DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence company, is planning to build a large-scale AI data center in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, approximately 350 kilometers northwest of Beijing .

Scale and Timeline

The planned facility would add 1 gigawatt (GW) of computing power, a scale exceeding any AI data center currently operated by a Chinese company, though still smaller than the 3GW and 5GW projects being developed by U.S. firms . DeepSeek intends to both build its own facilities and lease additional computing capacity from other companies . According to sources familiar with the matter, at least part of the computing power is expected to come online by the end of 2027 or early 2028 .

Strategic Location

The choice of Ulanqab is strategic. The city has an average annual temperature of around 4 degrees Celsius, which provides natural cooling conditions that reduce energy consumption for high-power AI servers . This has already made the region a popular hub for data centers, with over a dozen companies planning projects there according to local government records .

Personnel and Investment

DeepSeek has already posted job openings in Ulanqab for roles such as senior data center delivery manager and senior data center operations engineer . While the specific chips to be used in the project remain unclear, NVIDIA is the industry standard for AI data centers, while Huawei represents China's domestic alternative .

Industry Context

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has estimated that building a 1GW AI data center with cutting-edge accelerators could cost around $50 billion, though costs vary significantly based on location and chip type . DeepSeek's move comes as Chinese AI companies race to build computing infrastructure to compete with Silicon Valley rivals . The company, known for its efficient use of training computing power, now appears to be investing heavily in heavy infrastructure as well .