In July, China’s total power consumption again exceeded 1 trillion kWh; electricity use by internet data services rose 40% YoY, with compute capacity emerging as a major new source of demand. A smart compute center in Changshu, Jiangsu, saw August peak load climb over 70% YoY; peak compute-industry load reached 200 MW, about 4.1% of the city’s load. State Grid Changshu Power Supply Company said the compute sector accounted for roughly 49% of the city’s incremental load, indicating compute demand

In July, China’s total power consumption again exceeded 1 trillion kWh; electricity use by internet data services rose 40% YoY, with compute capacity emerging as a major new source of demand. A smart compute center in Changshu, Jiangsu, saw August peak load climb over 70% YoY; peak compute-industry load reached 200 MW, about 4.1% of the city’s load. State Grid Changshu Power Supply Company said the compute sector accounted for roughly 49% of the city’s incremental load, indicating compute demand is replacing seasonal air-conditioning as the main driver of summer power growth. In July, 106 compute-center firms in Jiangsu consumed >1.3 bln kWh, up 31% YoY; supercomputing and smart compute centers accounted for more than 80% of that usage.