Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Converting Prairie Winds into Computing Power
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
HOHHOT, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 24 August 2026 – On August 22, 2026, the fourth annual Green Computing Power (Artificial Intelligence) Conference was held on the picturesque Cilechuan Grassland in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
Centered on the theme "Building Synergy between Computing and Electricity, Exploring New Horizons in Token Economy, and Creating the Future of Artificial Intelligence Together," the conference presented the latest research achievements, including the Green Computing Power Development Research Report (2026), and showcased pilot initiatives such as "millisecond-level urban computing" applications. Prominent companies, including ByteDance and Cambricon, signed a series of significant agreements valued at tens of billions, focusing on green intelligent computing centers and token factories. 
Why has the national computing power industry turned its attention here? Part of the answer lies in this vast grassland.
Wind turbine blades turn steadily, each rotation generating 12 kilowatt-hours of green electricity. Instead of feeding into the public grid, this clean energy is transmitted via a dedicated 41-kilometer line directly to data centers located tens of kilometers away.
Inside the machine rooms of these centers, rows of GPU arrays operate around the clock, powered mainly by wind and solar energy.
Training large-scale AI models utilizing tens of thousands of GPUs can consume over 100 million kilowatt-hours annually. For instance, the Hohhot Intelligent Computing Center, operated by China Mobile, incurred electricity costs of approximately 290 million yuan in 2025, accounting for more than 70% of its total operating expenses. In the competition for computing power, electricity costs proved to be a decisive factor. China's strategic response includes the "East Data West Computing" project, which redirects the high computing demand from eastern regions to resource-rich western areas. The Horinger data center cluster in Hohhot is among the country's top ten clusters.
The city is endowed with a combination of nearly optimal conditions for the selection of data center locations. With an average annual temperature of only 7°C and over 200 days per year suitable for direct outdoor air cooling, the center achieves more than 20% savings in cooling costs. At an electricity price of about 0.36 yuan per kilowatt-hour, a large-scale GPU cluster can save around 50 million yuan annually on power expenses. Currently, Hohhot's total computing capacity reaches 150,000 P, with green electricity usage exceeding 80%.
However, the challenge lies in the "green" aspect itself.
Wind and solar power fluctuate with weather, while computing loads require an uninterrupted 24/7 power supply.
The local solution is an innovative "computing-electricity synergy" mechanism. China Huadian Corporation constructs a 360,000-kilowatt integrated wind-solar-storage power station, comprising 300,000 kilowatts of wind, 60,000 kilowatts of photovoltaic power, and energy storage capable of continuous four-hour regulation. A collaborative control platform collects data on wind output, solar irradiance, storage status, and computing load at millisecond intervals to dynamically allocate power: when green energy is abundant, storage systems charge and delay-tolerant computing tasks are prioritized; when green energy is limited, storage discharges, the public grid supplements power, and flexible tasks are deferred. This approach transforms power generation and consumption from a unidirectional supply model to a bidirectional interactive system.
On the consumption side, initiatives to minimize waste are also in progress. The Hohhot data center operated by China Mobile recovers waste heat from nearby power plants to provide cooling for machine rooms. The B02 machine hall has improved its Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) from 1.315 to 1.209, resulting in annual electricity savings of 560,000 kilowatt-hours since commencing operations. Upon full operation of two machine halls, annual savings are projected to reach 10 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 150,000 tons of water. 
Today, 62 computing center projects have clustered here, including data centers of China's three major telecom operators, 16 financial institutions, and computing nodes from Huawei, ByteDance, Kuaishou, and others. Upstream, 45 manufacturing enterprises produce servers, cabinets, and sensors locally. According to the recently published three-year action plan, by 2028, Hohhot aims to establish 10 token factories capable of producing 20 trillion tokens daily. At that time, customers will procure not only cabinets and bandwidth but also directly accessible intelligent services customized to their requirements.
The prairie winds remain constant, as does the city's commitment to converting every kilowatt-hour of green electricity into stable and reliable computing power.
Hashtag: #Hohhot
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