From TechRadar, July 29:
Like with EVs, China could flood its domestic market with affordable surplus computer power in a desperate attempt to improve data center viability nationwide
Expect a tsunami of cheap cloud deals in your inbox
- China’s cloud rescue plan aims to sell leftover CPU power from idle government data centers
- Despite massive investment, many Chinese data centers run at only 20 to 30 percent capacity
- Old CPUs cost money even when idle, China wants to monetize them before they expire
China is shifting its approach to managing excess data center capacity by proposing a new nationwide system to redistribute surplus computing power.
Following a three-year boom in infrastructure development, many local government-backed data centers now face low utilization and high operating costs.
As data centers get older and fewer new customers need their services, the Chinese government aims to revive the sector’s viability through a coordinated national cloud service that would unify computing resources across regions.
A coordinated response to growing inefficiencies
The proposal, driven by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), involves building a network that allows surplus CPU power from underused data centers to be pooled and sold....
....MUCH MORE
Apparently the whole damned economy was overbuilt. Most recently:
July 5 - "China's top leaders vow crackdown on price wars as deflation risks mount"
May 28 - "Chinese EV Stocks Tumble After BYD Slashes Prices Up to 35%"
June 3 - Chinese Government Warns Against Electric Vehicle Price War
But since the covid reopening it has been apparent what is going on in the wider economy:
The Great Wall Of Debt: "China Needs $3 Trillion Local Debt Solution, Top Economist Says"
That is such an enormous drag on the local economies. Think Chicago, cubed, or to the fourth. Eventually everything just grinds to a halt, stasis, entropy, death.
"Banks cut China growth forecasts over tariffs, deflation"
"China risks a spiral into deeper deflation as it diverts U.S.-bound exports to domestic market"
"China's May industrial profits slip back into sharp decline"
July 22 - "China’s Problem With Competition: There’s Too Much of It"
August 1 - Solar: "China polysilicon firms plan $7 billion fund to shut a third of industry capacity"
Those are just in the last four months.
