Outside the center, a big data industrial park is under development, which will cover more than 3.3 square kilometers, and has a planned investment of 50 billion yuan ($7.15 billion), according to the Chenzhou government. Upon completion, the park will host data centers capable of accommodating 200,000 server racks, or 5 million servers.

The park has secured five data center projects and provides services, including computing power and data storage, to 74 enterprises. Its computing power has reached 700 petaflops, with 500 petaflops of general-purpose computing and 200 petaflops of intelligent computing. Last year, the park generated 580 million yuan in revenue, it said.

In 2021, the park was recognized by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment as a green and low-carbon development model for the country.

In recent years, Zixing, a county-level city under Chenzhou, has been utilizing its natural resources to build a National New Data Valley, which will serve as an important green data base for the region and the country.

"We have prioritized the big data industry in the city's development plan," said Yang Licheng, Party secretary of Zixing.

The government is dedicated to establishing a comprehensive computing power base, attracting leading enterprises and top talents in intelligent computing and the big data industry, and constructing a fully integrated industrial ecosystem, Yang said.

Tang, the Yunchao Dongjiang Lake big data center director, sees the center's heat recovery system as being part of the city's broader big data industry plan.

Calculated at the planned scale of 10,000 racks running at full capacity, the industrial park could save approximately 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually by applying this technology, he said.

"Once the park is fully operational, this technology will save enterprises substantial electricity costs and may also benefit surrounding residents in the future," he added.

Contact the writers at limuyun@chinadaily.com.cn