SemiAnalysis: ByteDance accounts for nearly one-fifth of China's data center capacity, almost entirely relying on leasing.

Dongcha Beating AI News Flash: Semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis has released a survey on China’s data centers, tracking over 1,000 facilities from more than 60 operators. The report estimates that by the end of 2026, China’s data center capacity will exceed 24GW, ranking second globally behind the U.S.’s 56GW. ByteDance alone accounts for roughly one-fifth, making it China’s largest data center tenant. ByteDance has leased over 4GW of data center capacity, with suppliers including ChinaNetCenter, China United Network Data, and 21Vianet. The report notes that as of early 2026, ByteDance still contributes around 90% of ChinaNetCenter’s revenue. ByteDance has also accelerated self-built data center projects, constructing large facilities in Shanxi, Anhui, and Inner Mongolia to reduce reliance on external suppliers. While China’s data centers have long been viewed as having high vacancy rates, AI server rooms remain in tight supply. This is because many old data centers lack sufficient power and cooling capacity, making it difficult to directly deploy high-power AI servers. Newly built large AI data centers are being leased up rapidly. Taking a 100MW data center as an example, excluding IT equipment such as servers, China’s construction cost is approximately $300 million, compared to $1.5 billion in the U.S. Facilities of the same scale in China are typically delivered in around 12 months. Compared to the U.S., which faces power supply and approval hurdles, the more prominent bottleneck for expanding AI data centers in China is the supply of advanced chips.