2020 is the first year of China’s “new infrastructure” construction. As the foundation of the “new infrastructure”, the Internet Data Center (IDC) is known as the data “reservoir”. In addition to the three major operators, Internet giants such as “BAT” have also begun extensive deployment of IDC construction in recent years.
In May 2020, Tencent announced that it will invest 500 billion yuan in new infrastructure in the next five years, including the establishment of a number of large-scale data center.
Recently, reporters from News (www.thepaper.cn) visited Tencent’s cloud computing data center in Qingyuan, Guangdong. This data center is currently Tencent’s largest in China Self-built data center.
Take the high-speed rail from Guangzhou to Qingyuan, and then drive half an hour to reach Tencent’s cloud computing data center in Qingyuan. The center was officially opened on July 3, 2020. After the completion of all the 8 computer rooms, it is expected that the entire Qingyuan Data Center will accommodate more than 1 million servers in the future. 
< p class="image_desc">Han Shengjiang, reporter of Tencent Qingyuan Cloud Computing Data Center
What is the concept of “1 million servers”? According to the relevant engineers of Tencent Data Center, the concept of “1 million servers” is equivalent to the ability to store and process all the current business data of Tencent companies including WeChat, QQ, and Tencent Video in the Qingyuan Data Center.
The Qingyuan data center has an area of more than 400 acres, which is about the size of 40 standard football fields. In the future, this data center will connect Tencent Cloud in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. All core nodes and edge nodes form a data center interconnection platform covering the Greater Bay Area and radiating Southeast Asia.
Yang Xiaowei, senior director of Tencent’s data center, told reporters that whether it’s cloud computing, the Internet of Things, or big data, artificial intelligence and 5G, every business form will bring data The amount of growth, even exponential growth. The next 5 to 10 years will be the golden age of strong data center demand.
To build a data center, site selection is very important. In addition to being close to the Internet user gathering center, there are many integratedFactors need to be considered. Xiao Shanling, the person in charge of the Qingyuan data center operation and maintenance team, told reporters that the Qingyuan data center is far away from the seismic zone, there are no hazards in the surrounding area, the geological conditions are good, the climate is stable, and there are abundant clean energy such as hydropower and photovoltaics. Ensure the stable operation of the data center.
“The most important thing in a data center is data security. All of our centers adopt the so-called ‘2N’ architecture, that is, there will always be a set of backups for each other. If one line is out of power, the other If one is connected immediately, there is a problem with the municipal power supply, and diesel power generation will start automatically. Everything is for user data security.” Xiao Shanling said. 
Tencent Qingyuan Cloud Computing Data Center News Reporter Han Shengjiang
Energy consumption is a problem that all data center industry professionals are very concerned about. Because of the huge amount of data storage and computing, the energy consumed is In large numbers, doing a good job of cooling down is particularly important at this time. This is also one of the reasons why Tencent’s data center in Guizhou chose to be placed in a cool cave.
According to reports, Qingyuan Data Center uses unique heat dissipation technology to keep the overall PUE (the ratio of all energy consumed by the data center to the energy consumed by the IT load) below 1.25. This performance ranks first in the entire South China region.
The reporter also learned that Tencent’s Qingyuan data center uses a new generation of technology called “T-Block”. In short, this technology makes the computer room, air conditioning, The power and other components are all modularized, which makes the construction of the data center as convenient as building blocks. The on-site construction cycle is reduced by more than 80%, which greatly improves the delivery rate.
At present, Tencent has deployed more than 80 data centers in 26 regions around the world, with more than 100,000 cabinets, more than 1 million servers on the Internet, and bandwidth exceeding 100T. Ranked first in China and top five in the world.
Mentioning the future layout of Tencent’s data centers across the country, Yang Xiaowei said, “In general, the layout of Tencent’s data centers will continue Deep as the core, but gradually expand to the surrounding area, and at the same time guide the business to shift to the west with better climate and energy conditions.”
Yang Xiaowei told reporters that because Internet users are mainly concentrated in coastal areas, Tencent’s data center distribution is typically tilted towards the three major regions of South China, East China, and North China, with the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as the core. Six years ago, In response to the call of the National Development and Reform Commission to “move the big cloud westward”, Tencent began to build big data center bases in Chongqing and Guiyang, making the western region also a key area for Tencent’s data center layout. In July this year, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council inspected Tencent Guian Seven Stars in Guizhou The data center is one of the representatives.
However, Yang Xiaowei also admitted that in recent years, due to the strict control of energy in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and high electricity prices, data center resources are going north. Guangshen is gradually becoming unsustainable.
Therefore, Tencent launched the “Yuntuo Project” two years ago, based on the national macro-layout in the next 5 to 10 years. Qingyuan, Huailai and other places with better conditions are selected to build big data center bases, with a single park capacity of 300,000 units and a regional total capacity of 1 million units to support the long-term sustainable development of the business.
On December 15, after the Qingyuan cloud computing data center in southern China was opened, Tencent’s largest self-built data center in East China, Tencent Cloud Yizheng Data Center also officially opened and put into production. The center plans to deploy more than 300,000 servers. It is currently Tencent’s largest self-built data center in East China. 
The inspection robot inside Tencent’s Qingyuan Cloud Computing Data Center News reporter Han Shengjiang
Mentioning the current industry pain points, Yang Xiaowei told reporters at www.thepaper.cn that the most obvious thing is that the Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen business is concentrated, the network conditions are good, but land resources are scarce, especially restricted by the energy control policy, resulting in new data It is very difficult to expand the resources of the center, especially the ultra-large-scale data center, which directly restricts the development of the business.
In the non-Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen regions, land and power are relatively abundant, but It may also face the constraints of network infrastructure and local government’s resource matching capabilities. In this regard, Yang Xiaowei suggested that local governments can comprehensively weigh key factors such as land, power, network, and facilities in terms of business characteristics and regional layout, and provide data from the policy level Targeted incentives and support for the center users help them quickly build a stable and efficient data center operation system.
In the interview, Yang Xiaowei also talked about one point. Compared with the United States, the current China data center construction cost (capex) is already quite competitive, but the operating cost (opex ) There is still a big gap. The most important factor is the price of electricity.
“In China, large industrial power prices in first-tier areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are high, much higher than those in the southwest and northwest, which has caused companies to increase their operating costs by hundreds of millions each year. From a policy perspective, by advancing the reform of transmission and distribution, it is possible to give preferential prices to ultra-large-scale data centers from the list of electricity prices, while strengthening the application of green energy, such as Chengdu’s pilot reform of small hydropower development.” Yang Xiaowei said.
Currently, all major Internet giants are increasing the construction of data centers. In response to this phenomenon, Yang Xiaowei said that everyone is beginning to realize the importance of infrastructure and increase investment. It’s a good thing. After all, there is a rigid demand for services such as cloud computing, IOT, big data, and 5G. It is reasonable to drive a wave of construction boom. But the data center ultimately serves the business, which determines that the overall plan of the data center must be scientific, necessary, and reasonable, otherwise it will definitely fall into a local bubble.
“The development of China’s data center not only needs to solve the rigid needs in the short term, but more importantly, it is to abandon the idea of quick success and short-term profit, and settle down to cultivate internal strength and build long-term competitiveness. “Yang Xiaowei said.