SemiAnalysis has released a survey of China’s data center market, tracking more than 1,000 facilities run by over 60 operators. The report estimates China’s total data center capacity will exceed 24GW by the end of 2026, ranking behind only the United States at 56GW.
ByteDance leases more than 4GW
SemiAnalysis said ByteDance alone accounts for about one-fifth of China’s data center capacity, making it the country’s largest data center tenant. The company has leased more than 4GW of capacity from suppliers including Chindata, GDS, and VNET.
As of early 2026, ByteDance was still contributing about 90% of Chindata’s revenue, according to the report. ByteDance has also started to speed up self-built projects, with large data centers under construction in Shanxi, Anhui, and Inner Mongolia to reduce dependence on external suppliers.
AI facilities remain tight despite broader vacancy concerns
The report said China’s data center market has long been viewed as having relatively high vacancy rates, but AI-focused facilities are still in short supply. A large number of older sites do not have enough power supply or cooling capacity to directly host high-power AI servers, while newly built large AI data centers are being leased up quickly.
Lower build costs than the U.S., but chip supply is the key constraint
For a 100MW data center, excluding servers and other IT equipment, construction costs are estimated at about $300 million in China and about $1.5 billion in the United States. Facilities of that size in China can usually be delivered in around 12 months.
The report said that compared with the power and permitting challenges seen in the U.S., the more prominent bottleneck for expanding AI data centers in China is the supply of advanced chips.