Supercomputers/Systems/China Unicom Sanjiangyuan AI Data Center
China · operational · mixed
China Unicom Sanjiangyuan AI Data Center
Also known as China Unicom Xining AI data center; Sanjiangyuan data center
Operated by China Unicom at China Unicom Xining Data Center .
Phase 1 seed dataset, compiled by hand. These rows were built from public operator, laboratory and vendor sources. A mechanical second-reader pass has since fetched every cited source: 1092 of 1153 systems have a readable citation that names them, and 40 are genuinely weakly sourced. Every claim carries its source and a confidence tier. Treat anything below verified as a lead, not a citation.
Measured performance
- Rmax
- -
- Rpeak
- 3.58 EFlop/s
- Rmax ÷ Rpeak
- -
- Cores
- -
- Power
- -
- Per watt
- - GF/W
Figures are as last publicly reported for the configuration described below, not a live measurement. Where a system was upgraded in place, the post-upgrade configuration is shown and the earlier one appears in the timeline.
What this machine is made of
One row per supplier relationship. “Supplier at build” is the company that shipped the part at the time; where that company has since been acquired, the parent it rolls up to today is shown beside it. That distinction is what makes ticker-level aggregation possible across a thirty-year dataset.
| Role | Part | Supplier at build | Quantity | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrator | - China Unicom built and operates the Sanjiangyuan data center in Xining, Qinghai | China Unicom | - | Reported | hostingjournalist.com |
| Accelerator | - Alibaba T-Head PPU AI chips with 96 GB HBM2e, about 72 percent of the nearly 23,000 domestic AI chips installed; remainder from MetaX, Biren Technology and Zhonghao Xinying | Alibaba Group | - | Reported | hostingjournalist.comrcrwireless.com |
AI datacenter metrics
Figures beyond an accelerator count, each with who stated it. What can and cannot be compared across AI datacenters.
| Metric | Value | As of | Basis | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerators | 23,000 accelerators | 2025-09 | Operator stated | State-media figure of nearly 23,000 domestic AI chips installed (3,579 petaflops); 72 percent Alibaba T-Head. | hostingjournalist.comrcrwireless.com |
| Stated investment | 0.39 USD bn | 2025-09 | Operator stated | About US$390 million investment for the planned 20,000 petaflops data center. | hostingjournalist.comrcrwireless.com |
The read
China Unicom's Sanjiangyuan data center in Xining, Qinghai, announced through Chinese state media in the week of 17 September 2025 (Premier Li Qiang visited Qinghai that week). HostingJournalist and RCR Wireless report an investment of about US$390 million, 3,579 petaflops built so far from nearly 23,000 domestically made AI chips, and a planned 20,000 petaflops when complete. Alibaba's T-Head supplies about 72 percent of the installed chips (the PPU, with 96 GB of HBM2e); the rest come from MetaX, Biren Technology and Zhonghao Xinying, with Tecorigin, Moore Threads and Enflame named as future suppliers. The petaflops unit and precision are not stated. MLex describes the same CCTV report as a China Telecom data center in Xining, so the attribution to China Unicom follows HostingJournalist and RCR Wireless and both derive from the same state-media announcement, hence reported. Power and cooling are not published.
Timeline
- 2025-09 Announced source
Site & facility
China Unicom Xining Data Center
- Location
- Xining, Qinghai, China
- Commissioned
- 2025
Change history
- 2026-10-09 Added China Unicom Sanjiangyuan AI Data Center
Source check
We fetched this system's own citations and recorded whether each page actually mentions it. This is a corroboration signal, not a fact check, and it is published so you can see how well the sourcing holds up rather than take it on trust.
| Cited source | Result | Found on the page |
|---|---|---|
| hostingjournalist.com | names system only | - |
| rcrwireless.com | names system only | - |
Checked 2026-10-09 by pnpm verify. Re-run it and the table changes with the web.