ByteDance is in preliminary talks to add five to six gigawatts of computing capacity in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, with delivery targeted by early 2028, a person familiar with the matter said.

The planned data center cluster would be built in Jining district, the source said, in an area that has also drawn projects from Huawei Technologies, Kuaishou, Alibaba Group Holding, and Apple.

Ulanqab has been used for large-scale data center construction because of low-cost power, available land, and a national policy push that shifts computing workloads from eastern cities to energy-rich northern and western regions.

Inner Mongolia’s large wind and solar base has also created periods of excess renewable power supply. Officials are discussing data center development as a way to absorb surplus electricity.

ByteDance recently secured a reported US$29.6 billion bank loan. The reported plan would also fit a wider AI infrastructure race in China.

Alibaba has been reported to be considering up to US$69 billion in AI data center capital expenditure over three years, while Alibaba and Tencent have signaled they will spend more on AI.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

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