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China’s data centers face little pushback amid AI boom: ‘That’s a matter for the state’

This version of Data Center Politics China Vote Controversy Debate Pro Con Rcna589411 - Technology and Innovation | NBC News Clone was adapted by NBC News Clone to help readers digest key facts more efficiently.

China’s efforts to turbocharge its AI buildout are constrained by chips, not public pushback.

China First Zero-carbon Data Center Reduces Annual Carbon Emissions By More Than 300,000 Tons

A robot inspects servers at a China Telecom data center in Haidong in China's Qinghai province in 2024. Li Jun / China News Service via Getty Images

Aug. 18, 2026, 5:08 PM EDT / Updated Aug. 18, 2026, 9:31 PM EDT

By Jared Perlo

SHANGHAI — Seventy-year-old Jingsan Ma reclined across piles of trinkets in his antique shop on a recent sweltering day in China’s most populous city. Using his smartphone, Ma asked the popular Chinese AI chatbot Doubao if his blood sugar levels were in a safe range given the heat.

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