Shanghai HiCloud Technology Co Ltd, a leading enterprise in underwater data centers (UDCs), recently completed 50 million yuan ($6.96 million) in Series A financing, bringing its total financing to over 100 million yuan.

The funds will be used for research and development, manufacturing, and the expansion of new computing power application scenarios related to UDC technology.​

A UDC is a data center that installs servers and other informational technology facilities in a sealed pressure vessel on the seabed, uses submarine composite cables for power supply, and transmits data back to the internet.

Established in 2020 by Beijing Highlander Digital Technology Co Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, HiCloud relocated its main entity to Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area this May.

Boasting over 100 patents, it focuses on intelligent navigation, ocean observation and detection, and UDC businesses.

In 2022, HiCloud built China's first commercial UDC in Lingshui, Hainan province. This year, it worked with the Lin-gang Special Area Administration and Shanghai Lingang Special Area Investment Holding Group Co Ltd to launch the nation's first wind-powered commercial UDC in Lin-gang.

With a total investment of 1.6 billion yuan, the project will establish a 24-megawatt (MW) underwater data cluster. The first phase, a 2.3-MW demonstration facility, is designed with power usage effectiveness (PUE) below 1.15 and a green electricity supply rate exceeding 90 percent.

Built with the help of Shanghai-based enterprise Shenergy Group Co Ltd, the project is the world's first piece of zero-carbon benchmark infrastructure powered by wind, putting Shanghai at the global forefront of green computing infrastructure.​

In the AI era, exponential growth in data computing has sharply increased data center power consumption and heat dissipation demands. Seawater cooling, a superior alternative to traditional methods, can effectively reduce PUE, address high-power cooling challenges, and cut costs. Meanwhile, wind power can meet the UDCs' electricity needs.

The partnership between HiCloud and Lin-gang not only helps the UDC leader create an efficient new development model but also drives the industrial innovation and upgrading of the offshore wind power sector in Lin-gang.