Beijing has spent more than a decade pushing ordinary data centers out of the city while building government-backed AI computing centers inside it. In 2015 it banned new data centers in six central districts (Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan). Now it is building four public AI computing centers, in Haidian, Chaoyang, Yizhuang and the Mentougou-Shijingshan area in the west. The next change lands on existing sites: from 2026 the city charges extra for power at data centers that miss its efficiency limit.
That rule comes from a November 2024 city plan to clean up what it calls an "old, outdated, small and scattered" stock of data centers. Sites using 5 million kilowatt-hours a year or more must meet an efficiency ratio of 1.35, meaning at most 35% extra power for cooling and other overhead, and the city wants its average there by 2027. Those over the limit pay 0.2 yuan more per kilowatt-hour on the excess, or 0.5 yuan for the worst. Retrofits can earn grants of up to 30 million yuan.
Much of the capacity squeezed out went next door to Hebei, to Zhangbei, Huailai and Langfang, and to Tianjin, S&P Global's 451 Research reported. Inside the city, the Beijing AI Public Computing Platform, begun in September 2023, expanded again in March 2025, and the Beijing Digital Economy Computing Center opened in April 2025 running mostly on Chinese-made chips. The city's economy bureau says Beijing grew its AI computing supply by more than a third in the first half of 2026.
Projects not tied to an area
Sites whose records name no county. Everything else is on the pages listed above.
Beijing4
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS China Beijing Region (Sinnet) | Sinnet (for AWS) | Not reported | Not reported | |
| China Mobile Beijing International Information Port (Changping)Exact site not confirmed | China Mobile | Not reported | Not reported | |
| China Telecom Beijing Data CenterChangping District | China Telecom | Not reported | Not reported | |
| PDG Beijing Daxing (BJ1)Daxing District | Princeton Digital Group (Warburg Pincus) | Not reported | Not reported |
Where this comes from
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Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.