DeepSeek plans a gigawatt AI data center in Inner Mongolia
DeepSeek is planning a one-gigawatt AI data center in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, combining a self-built facility with leased capacity. Parts of the project could come online by late 2027 or early 2028.
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@deepseek_ai is planning what would be its largest computing facility to date, targeting one gigawatt of capacity in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia. The project was first reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.
A Self-Built Hub With Leased Backup
The Hangzhou-based company is looking to add one gigawatt of compute in Ulanqab, roughly 350 kilometers northwest of Beijing. DeepSeek aims to build its own new facility while leasing additional capacity from other companies. The company is working to bring at least part of the data center online by the end of next year or early 2028.
Ulanqab is already an established computing hub in China. More than a dozen firms have projects planned in the city, according to a third-party compilation of local government approvals. The region is widely cited for its cheap electricity and proximity to Beijing, making it a natural draw for data-intensive operations.
Putting DeepSeek in the Hyperscaler League
The scale of the ambition is significant. The first gigawatt-scale AI data centers are only now arriving, with research by Epoch AI pointing to five such facilities expected to come online in 2026, each operated by a different hyperscaler. A completed one-gigawatt facility would place DeepSeek alongside the world's largest cloud and AI infrastructure operators.
DeepSeek has already shown it can compete with the leading AI models of Silicon Valley, and this infrastructure push signals a longer-term ambition to match that model capability with serious compute power. One gigawatt is roughly the output of a large nuclear power plant, consumed entirely to run AI training and inference at a single campus.
The move comes as the global AI infrastructure race intensifies. The four largest US hyperscalers, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, combined for $413 billion in capital expenditure in 2025 and are projected to spend $600 billion to $700 billion in 2026. DeepSeek's Inner Mongolia project, though smaller in scope, reflects the same underlying pressure: frontier AI requires frontier compute.
Sources:
Bloomberg: DeepSeek Plans Gigawatt-Scale AI Data Center in Inner Mongolia
Bloomberg: DeepSeek Looks for Data Center Engineers in Inner Mongolia
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