What China's national computing plan reveals about how America matches land, power, networks and customers
Where a data center sits determines which computing work it can serve. China made that problem part of national policy when it launched East Data, West Computing in 2022. Its first guidance recommended moving backups, offline analysis and background processing west first, and locating time-sensitive services, including AI inference, closer to eastern users.[1] The real-estate lesson for America begins with that choice: a site needs to match the work its customers want to do.
How China matched computing work to locations
China formally launched the program in February 2022 with eight national computing hubs and plans for ten data-center clusters. The hubs included major eastern demand regions alongside Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu and Ningxia. The National Development and Reform Commission pointed to western land and renewable-energy resources, while calling for data centers and electricity networks to be designed together.[1]
Distance still matters. The original guidance recommended locating services such as financial trading, video calls, remote medical care and AI inference in eastern hubs because long-distance transmission adds delay.[1] Latency is the time it takes data to travel and an answer to return. A location that works for overnight analysis may be a poor choice for a service that needs an immediate response.
The December 2023 guidance encouraged moving AI model training and inference, as well as other computing work, from eastern regions to the west.[13] That is a change in policy direction, not proof that every inference service can tolerate a remote location. The customer’s response-time requirements and the actual network still decide what can run there.
The network is still developing. A May 2025 industry ministry plan targeted interconnection standards and rules by 2026, and standardized interconnection of public computing resources by 2028.[2] In February 2026 the ministry announced a national, regional and industry node system; in September, a provincial authority in Shaanxi reported approval to build a regional node.[3][4] This framework is separate from the eight hubs. Targets and construction approvals do not establish how much useful work the network will deliver.
America’s clusters face the same location question
The International Energy Agency estimated that the United States accounted for 46 percent of global data-center electricity consumption in 2025, compared with China’s 24 percent.[14] Those shares include non-AI workloads and do not measure useful output, profitability or development speed. Nearly half of U.S. data-center capacity is in five regional clusters, even without China’s national hub program.[11]
The IEA says building new transmission lines can take four to eight years in advanced economies.[11] Berkeley Lab’s June 2026 report puts data centers at 11.8 percent of U.S. electricity consumption in its 2030 reference case, with scenarios ranging from 9.5 to 15.3 percent.[12] These are modeled possibilities, not observed consumption, giving utilities and developers reason to test commitments under different demand outcomes.
Responsibilities are divided. FERC regulates interstate electricity transmission and wholesale sales, while retail electricity sales fall outside its authority.[5] Local governments decide land use, and older zoning codes can require individual data-center reviews.[6] The customer’s requirements must fit both the electrical system and the use permitted on the property.
In July 2025, the Department of Energy selected four federal sites for plans to invite private partners to develop AI data centers and power generation.[7] This was a development announcement, not evidence of operating facilities. Describing America as wholly private leaves out that public role.
In June 2026, FERC told six regional grid operators under its jurisdiction to justify or reform their large-customer connection rules.[8] Two commissioners wrote in September that the proceedings were still underway and called for clear contracts that protect other customers from improper cost shifting.[9]
If a large customer cancels, equipment built to serve it and its bill do not disappear. NARUC’s discussions describe longer contracts, collateral and commitments to pay for reserved service as ways to protect other electricity customers.[10] The exact obligations depend on approved rules and contracts. Households should understand which costs the new customer pays before construction begins.
What a location can actually serve
How quickly must an answer return? How much data needs to move? Can the work wait or move elsewhere? Those answers determine whether distance is an acceptable trade for land, electricity or other resources.
The network provider must establish whether its routes meet the required response time. The operator must check equipment and cooling against local conditions. The utility must explain its service, and the local government must determine what use is allowed. A beautiful rendering is unlikely to persuade a transformer to arrive earlier.
China’s December 2023 guidance links computing with green power and calls for a higher utilization rate of computing resources, meaning fuller use of available capacity.[13] Before anyone says a facility runs on renewable power, they should check what electricity it actually receives. A regional resource advantage matters only if the operator can use it.
An investor needs to know which customers a location can serve before assigning value to its infrastructure. Cheap land is less attractive if reaching the customer adds unacceptable delay. A busy cluster may offer proximity and established networks while requiring costly electrical upgrades. Those are site-level trade-offs; a national construction total does not tell an investor which location to choose. So which country makes better choices? Without comparable data on how much capacity is used, how quickly projects are delivered and whether customer demand makes them profitable, it is hard to say.
The decision belongs to the site and its customer
American developers can start with the work each location can serve and bring utilities, network providers and local governments into the discussion early.[6][10] Before public infrastructure or community resources are committed, the responsibilities, likely costs and remaining uncertainties should be visible to decision-makers.
Requiring enforceable commitments before utility service, permits and customers are confirmed could discourage development, reduce flexibility and force premature promises. Early information should help a project develop while allowing the public to understand what is proposed and what remains uncertain.
Once a formal commitment is made, the agreement should clearly say who pays, who performs and who bears the risk if plans change. The obligations should fit that stage of the project, addressing reserved service and infrastructure costs before other electricity customers are left to carry them.[10]
China coordinates through a national map. America must coordinate through clearer rules, earlier information and transparent responsibility for costs and risks at each stage of a project.
Sources
- NDRC, Official Q&A on implementing East Data, West Computing, February 17, 2022. Chinese original; paraphrased in English.
- MIIT, Computing Power Interconnection Action Plan, issued May 21, 2025; reproduced June 27. Chinese original.
- MIIT, National computing interconnection node system announcement, February 6, 2026. Chinese original.
- Shaanxi Communications Administration via MIIT, Shaanxi selected for regional interconnection node construction, September 9, 2026. Chinese original.
- FERC, What FERC Does, page updated June 18, 2025.
- NLC and AAAS, Community Strategies to Address Data Center Development and Operation, September 2025.
- DOE, Federal site selection for AI data centers and energy infrastructure, July 24, 2025.
- FERC, Targeted action on large-load integration, June 18, 2026.
- FERC, Swett and See concurrence in Commonwealth Edison, September 22, 2026. Commissioners’ statement, not a comprehensive docket-status inventory.
- NARUC, Demand Roundtable Series: Consolidated Summary, summary of February, July and November 2025 meetings; accessed October 5, 2026.
- IEA, Energy and AI: Executive Summary, 2025, estimates for 2024.
- Berkeley Lab, United States Data Center Energy Usage Report: 2025 Update, published June 2026.
- NDRC and other agencies via NDA, Implementation opinions on the national integrated computing network, issued December 25, 2023; NDA page dated December 29. Chinese original.
- IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI, April 16, 2026, Annex A, Table A.4, p. 110. Shares calculated from 2025 total electricity consumption and rounded to whole percentages.