Fact check: China has an operational underwater AI data center near Shanghai.

Verdict: mostly true — Trust Score 75/100

The post accurately states that China has an operational underwater AI data center near Shanghai, which uses seawater for cooling and is powered by offshore wind, costing approximately $226 million. confirmed by 6 sources including AI Business, The Guardian, and Entrepreneur. However, the claim about it being fully commercial since June 2025 is slightly inaccurate, as it became fully operational in May 2026. Additionally, the 7,000 AI queries per second linked to DeepSeek are primarily associated with a different underwater data center in Hainan, not explicitly the Shanghai one. The claim about US projects being halted in 2024 is partially true regarding Microsoft's Project Natick, but the post generalizes this to 'similar projects' without specifying underwater ones, while land-based US data center projects have faced halts in 2025-2026.

Platform
instagram
Source author
hypersociety_ — see all fact-checks of this account
Original post
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZy0ftenTBU/?igsh=MTltaWF6cHp2NzRwcw==
Verified on
June 21, 2026
Verification ID
9S9TqbQFkVFZ6ZAtp92X0A

Original content reviewed

Platform: INSTAGRAM Author: @hypersociety_ --- Caption/Description --- China just turned the ocean into an AI data center, and it is fully operational right now 🤯 Near Shanghai, about 2,000 servers sit inside sealed, submarine-grade steel units, 35 meters below the surface. Instead of traditional cooling, the system uses seawater for natural heat management, reportedly cutting cooling energy use by up to 90 percent. It runs on offshore wind power, costs an estimated 226 million dollars, and has been fully commercial since June 2025. The setup reportedly handles more than 7,000 AI queries per second through systems linked to DeepSeek, all running directly underwater. China keeps pushing AI infrastructure into extreme environments, while similar projects in the US were reportedly halted in 2024. Efficiency and scale are now competing on a global level, and apparently, the ocean floor is part of that race. 🎥 Credits: @itsupport911 | 5chmatme on X Do you think underwater computing becomes a real long-term solution or stays experimental? 👇 --- Carousel/Slides (3 items) --- Slide 1 (video): Text: CHINA JUST PUT 1,300 TONS OF AI DATA SERVERS INTO THE OCEAN Slide 2 (video): Text: CHINA LAUNCHES THE WORLD'S FIRST UNDERWATER AI DATA SERVERS * Located off the coast of Shanghai * 2,000 AI servers housed in sealed submarine-grade units * Installed 35 meters below the ocean surface * Uses seawater for natural cooling instead of traditional systems * Cooling energy consumption reportedly reduced by up to 90% Slide 3 (video): Text: POWERING AI FROM THE OCEAN * Runs on offshore wind energy * Cost approximately $226 million * Began operations in June 2025 and is now fully commercial * Processes over 7,000 AI queries per second * Demonstrates how the global AI race is pushing infrastructure into extreme environments for greater efficiency and scale Published: 2026-06-20T04:20:17.000Z ---VERIFICATION_SUMMARY--- Platform: INSTAGRAM Author: @hypersoci

Claims analyzed (6)

  1. verified: China has an operational underwater AI data center near Shanghai.
    Multiple credible news sources confirm that China's underwater AI data center off the coast of Shanghai's Lingang Special Area is fully operational.
  2. mostly true: The data center contains about 2,000 servers inside sealed, submarine-grade steel units, 35 meters below the surface.
    Sources confirm the facility houses nearly 2,000 servers in pressure-resistant subsea modules. The depth is reported as 'roughly 35 meters' or '115 feet' (approx. 35m) by some, but other sources state '10 meters' or '30 feet' (approx. 9m).
  3. verified: The system uses seawater for natural heat management, reportedly cutting cooling energy use by up to 90 percent.
    The data center utilizes the surrounding seawater for passive cooling, significantly reducing energy consumption. A vice president of Highlander stated that underwater facilities can save approximately 90% of energy consumption for cooling. Other reports indicate a 22.8% reduction in overall energy consumption or that cooling accounts for about one-tenth of total power consumption.
  4. mostly true: It runs on offshore wind power, costs an estimated 226 million dollars, and has been fully commercial since June 2025.
    The data center is powered by offshore wind energy and its cost is consistently reported as $226 million. While the project was launched or unveiled in June 2025, it entered full commercial operation in May 2026, not June 2025.
  5. mostly true: The setup reportedly handles more than 7,000 AI queries per second through systems linked to DeepSeek.
    Several sources confirm an underwater data center in Hainan, China, can handle 7,000 DeepSeek conversations/queries per second. While the Shanghai data center also supports AI workloads, the direct link of this specific query capacity to the Shanghai facility is not explicitly stated in the provided search results, making it an inference rather than direct confirmation for this particular center.
  6. mostly true: Similar projects in the US were reportedly halted in 2024.
    Microsoft's Project Natick, an underwater data center experiment by a US company, was shelved in 2024 due to economic and maintenance challenges. However, this project was deployed off Scotland. Separately, numerous land-based data center projects in the US have faced halts and delays in 2025 and 2026 due to local opposition, but these are not 'underwater' projects. The claim generalizes 'similar projects' without specifying the type or location within the US.

Sources consulted (25)

Related verifications

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