In a bold pivot from agriculture to artificial intelligence, China is transforming a 760-acre island of rice fields in Wuhu, Anhui Province, into a sprawling data center complex dubbed the “Stargate of China.” The $37 billion initiative aims to consolidate the country’s fragmented AI infrastructure and accelerate its computing capabilities amid growing global competition.
The Wuhu “data island” will host four major operators—Huawei, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom—serving densely populated cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. This strategic placement is designed to optimize AI inference speeds for urban applications, while remote data centers in provinces such as Inner Mongolia and Gansu will focus on training large language models.
China currently holds just 15% of global AI compute power, trailing far behind the United States’ 75% share. With U.S. export restrictions limiting access to advanced Nvidia chips, Beijing is investing in domestic alternatives and offering subsidies covering up to 30% of AI chip procurement costs.
The Stargate project reflects China’s broader ambition to unify its AI resources through Huawei’s UB-Mesh networking technology, linking underutilized server farms with high-demand urban centers. As geopolitical tensions reshape the global tech landscape, China’s data-driven transformation signals a determined push to close the AI gap and assert digital sovereignty.
