China debuts largest AI industrial park in Ulanqab, betting big on desert computing

A pastoral city in Inner Mongolia that most people outside China have never heard of just became one of the most important coordinates on the global AI map. Ulanqab is now home to China’s largest artificial intelligence industrial park. The centerpiece is Envision Group’s Galaxy Campus, which became operational around August 6. The facility’s main building spans 120,000 square meters and is designed to house up to 1 million AI accelerators, with a target compute capacity exceeding 1 million petaflops. Why a city in the middle of nowhere Ulanqab’s appeal is deceptively simple: it’s cold, it’s cheap, and it’s windy. The city’s average temperature hovers around 4°C (roughly 39°F), which dramatically reduces the cooling costs that typically eat into data center margins. The region also sits on abundant wind and solar resources, which feeds directly into Envision’s broader pitch. The entire Galaxy Campus aims to surpass 2 gigawatts of energy capacity, sourced primarily through integrated renewables. This setup aligns with Beijing’s “East Data, West Computing” national strategy, which routes data-intensive workloads from expensive eastern cities to resource-rich western regions. Ulanqab ...