China builds massive chip-free data center

Can a massive AI powerhouse run without a single Western chip? Chinese AI developer Zhi AI has finished building a monumental 1-gigawatt data center stocked entirely with domestic silicon.

Part of the facility is already switched on. It will train the flagship GLM model family.

Reports indicate the company now operates multiple computing clusters holding over 10,000 chips apiece. This historic buildout comes as Beijing drafts a plan to spend roughly ¥2 trillion to construct a nationwide AI grid.

Yet analysts note these domestic accelerators deliver less actual training compute than Nvidia systems due to lower power efficiency. Still, the developer is surging, hitting its sales target to put it on track for $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.