Can AI go underwater?

人工智能可以下海吗?

Round Table China

2026-05-28

34 分钟
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单集简介 ...

AI doesn't just eat data. It devours power, water, and land. So what happens when you run out of all three? China answered by going underwater. Off Shanghai, one of the country's first commercial ocean-floor data centers has gone live. It is powered by offshore wind and cooled by the sea itself. Could it be a smart solution to the world's data center controversy? On the show: Fei Fei, Steve & Yushun
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单集文稿 ...

  • discussion keeps the world turning.

  • This is Roundtable.

  • AI doesn't just eat data.

  • It devours power, water and land.

  • Precious resources for all of us.

  • Then who gets the upper hand when there are limited resources out there?

  • This week, China answered by going underwater.

  • Of Shanghai, one of the country's first commercial data centers went live, powered by wind and cooled by the sea itself.

  • Is this a smart solution to the world's data center controversy?

  • Coming to you live from our studios in Beijing, this is Roundtable.

  • I'm Fei Fei, and for today's program, I'm joined by Steve Heatherly and Yu Xun.

  • First on today's show.

  • Every AI prompt you send need a data center somewhere, usually is in the middle of a desert

  • or in mountains, burning a lot of power and water.

  • But off the coast of Shanghai, something different just went live.

  • A data center sitting 10 meters under the sea, cooled by the ocean, powered by offshore wind.

  • It cuts energy, saves land, and sounds like the perfect future.

  • But the ocean is a brutal place to build, well, anything.

  • And with data centers already sparking fights over power and water across the globe,

  • could the sea actually be our answer?