In Depth: Chinese Industrial Hub Stakes Future on Green, High-Tech
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Zhangjiakou traditionally ran on industries like coal and steel, but the city is attempting an about-face, staking its future on renewable energy and big data by leveraging its abundant natural resources and proximity to Beijing.
A new 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) intelligent computing center taking shape in the Hebei province city epitomizes this shift. The project is a renewable energy firm’s bold attempt to build the city’s first hyperscale computing hub within a one-hour train ride of the country’s capital.
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What Happened When
- 2015：
- Beijing successfully bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics with Zhangjiakou as a partner, marking a turning point for Zhangjiakou's economic transition.
- End of 2015：
- Zhangjiakou's installed wind and solar power capacity stood at 8.42 GW.
- 2018：
- The Chinese government introduced cash VAT refunds for excess credits to help high-tech companies with cash flows.
- Starting in 2019：
- Zhangjiakou began shutting down its mines to improve the environment in connection with the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics.
- Dec. 30, 2019：
- The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway opened, reducing travel time between the two cities to one hour.
- 2021：
- Zhangjiakou local government debt was 87.8 billion yuan.
- September 2021：
- Zhangjiakou shut down blast furnace production at iron and steel producer ZXHT.
- 2022：
- Zhangjiakou co-hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics, which demanded a cleaner environment and furthered the city's transition away from mining and metallurgy.
- 2024：
- Zhangjiakou's GDP was 191.3 billion yuan, ranking last in the province. City debt reached 154.7 billion yuan.
- August 2024：
- Ming Yang Smart Energy Group signed a deal to supply Alibaba's Zhangjiakou data center with wind power, with the wind farm expected to begin operating in 2025.
- December 2024：
- Deepseek launched DeepSeek-V3, an open-source large language model, accelerating AI adoption and fueling demand for intelligent computing centers.
- By May 2025：
- Zhangjiakou's installed wind and solar power capacity reached over 42 GW.
- First half of 2025：
- Zhangjiakou's electricity consumption growth was 13.51%, driven mainly by the big data industry.
- By end of June 2025：
- Zhangjiakou had 48 data centers in operation with a total of 1.8 million servers.
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