AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers

Phys · Aug 17, 2026 · 1134 words · By Nir Kshetri

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What to know about AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers

The article explores the trend of placing AI data centers in or on the ocean to improve cooling efficiency and reduce land and freshwater use. It details projects in China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea while discussing the potential environmental risks to marine ecosystems and the technical challenges of maintenance.

Propaganda risk 10%

Claims checked 16

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor The artificial intelligence boom is driving unprecedented demand for data centers, raising concerns about their growing energy…

Why it matters

These challenges are making companies look beyond traditional land-based data centers.

Common ground

Some developers are now exploring the ocean as a new location for AI infrastructure, hoping underwater data centers could improve energy use and cooling efficiency while using less fresh water and land area than onshore buildings.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that UNESCO... estimates that about 60% of marine ecosystems are already degraded or used unsustainably?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-companies-ocean-centers.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 16 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 6

check_circle Corroborated 6

info Single Source 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

schedule

Claim 1: “UNESCO... estimates that about 60% of marine ecosystems are already degraded or used unsustainably.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 2: “China built what may be the world's first wind-powered underwater data center in Shanghai. The facility launched in June 2025 and began full commercial operations in May 2026.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the launch of a wind-powered underwater data center in Shanghai, with one source specifically mentioning the May 19, 2026 operational date.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shanghai Port Football Club (Chinese: 上海海港足球俱乐部; pinyin: Shànghǎi Hǎigǎng Zúqiú Jùlèbù) is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai that competes in the Chinese Super League, the top tie…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Port_F.C.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shanghai is a provincial-level direct-administered municipality in China. It has a population of 30,050,000 in the urban area as of 2026, thus making it China's most populous city and more broadly the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shanghai Disneyland (Chinese: 上海迪士尼乐园; Pinyin: Shànghǎi díshìní lèyuán, Shanghainese: Zaon-he Diq-zy-nyi Loq-yoe) is a theme park located in Chuansha New Town, Pudong, Shanghai, China, that is part of…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Disneyland

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “Part of that effort included setting up a waterproof data center on the seafloor near Scotland's Orkney Islands in 2018. It contained 864 servers and was connected to shore by an underwater cable.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the 2018 deployment near the Orkney Islands, Scotland, specifically mentioning the 864 server count and the shipping-container size.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Project Natick was a research and development effort by Microsoft to create an experimental undersea data center. The company deployed its first prototype in August 2015. It subsequently deployed and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Natick

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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the datacenter to the seafloor off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland where it operated for two years. Photo by Jonathan Banks. Two people in a bucket…
https://news.microsoft.com/source/features/sustainability/pr…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — (Photo and caption courtesy Microsoft / Scott Eklund/Red Box Pictures). Microsoft kicked off the second phase of its experimental underwater data center project Wednesday, submerging a shipping-contai…
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/clouds-sea-microsoft-deploys-p…

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 4: “HiCloud, the engineering contractor for China's Hainan underwater data center, has reported a temperature increase of less than 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in the seawater near the facility.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 5: “SIN01 in Sines, Portugal, also returns seawater about 1 C warmer.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 6: “In 2026, infrastructure company Keppel began building a four-story floating data center, scheduled to open in 2028.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The search results for this claim returned unrelated information about 'Edison Mail' and provided no evidence regarding Keppel or floating data centers in 2026.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Edison Mail+ Dive into exclusive features and perks with the Edison Mail+ subscription.
https://mailsupport.edison.tech/hc/en-us

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 16, 2020 · The mail sync “feature” completed screwed up the app for me, it duplicated accounts, messed up my inbox, and now apparently there’s privacy breach. I’ve terminated my account with this …
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/gkw0e7/edison_mail_s…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The Edison Mail multi-email app allows you to easily manage all your email accounts from one place. It’s fast, secure and there are no ads. Download today!
https://www.edisonmail.com/

schedule

Claim 7: “A Gallup poll in March 2026 found that 70% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their communities.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 8: “In 2025, a data center in shipping containers opened on a floating platform near Yokohama. Its power comes from solar panels installed on the same floating platform, with batteries providing energy storage. The test will continue through March 2027.”

SINGLE SOURCE

Only one source ('AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers') provides the specific details about the Yokohama floating data center opening in 2025 and testing until 2027. Other results are generic or unrelated.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — In 2025, a data center in shipping containers opened on a floating platform near Yokohama. Its power comes from solar panels installed on the same floating platform, with batteries providing energy st…
https://www.laconiadailysun.com/around_the_web/ai-companies-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The data center is projected to offer between 20 and 73MW of capacity, cooled by direct water systems drawing from seas or rivers. It would be mounted on a 120-meter-long ship, with network plans that…
https://thefifthskill.com/a-shipping-giant-just-signed-off-o…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Data center, colocation rack, cloud servers, managed hosting or bare metal servers? Data Center Map is your guide to the right data center provider.
https://www.datacentermap.com/

schedule

Claim 9: “In Portugal, the SIN01 AI data center in Sines uses seawater from the Atlantic to cool its servers before returning it to the ocean.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 10: “Microsoft ended the project in 2024 and chose not to build more underwater data centers.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that Microsoft ended the project in 2024 and chose not to pursue further commercial underwater deployments.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and (formerly) a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Windows is a proprietary operating system developed by Microsoft. Windows is grouped into families that cater to particular sectors of the computing industry – Windows for personal computers, Windows …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 11: “The US$226 million project uses seawater as a coolant rather than refrigerating fresh water... It uses at least 30% less electricity than traditional data centers”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the US$226 million cost, the use of seawater for cooling, and the claim of using at least 30% less electricity.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Shanghai Tower is a 128-story, 632-meter-tall (2,073-foot) megatall skyscraper located in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai. It is currently the tallest building in China, the world's third-tallest build…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Tower

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 12: “In 2015, Microsoft launched a research project to explore the feasibility, benefits and challenges of underwater data centers.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web sources confirm Microsoft launched a research project (Project Natick) in 2015 to explore underwater data centers.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Excel, or simply Excel, is a spreadsheet editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and iPadOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel

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+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 13: “more than half of the world's population lives within 120 miles (190 kilometers) of a coast.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 14: “In Maine, DeepGreen Western Passage has proposed a submersible AI data center in the Bay of Fundy, powered by tidal turbines”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support the claim about DeepGreen Western Passage in the Bay of Fundy.

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Claim 15: “After two years, Microsoft reported that the servers in the underwater data center failed at about one-eighth the rate of servers in comparable land-based data centers.”

CORROBORATED

Three independent web sources explicitly state that Microsoft reported a failure rate of one-eighth that of land-based data centers.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft Azure data centers might be underwater in the future as severs are more reliable compared to land.The result was a success as the servers in the underwater data center showed a failure rate …
https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/microsoft-s-underwater-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — After two years, Microsoft reported that the servers in the underwater data center failed at about one-eighth the rate of servers in comparable land-based data centers.
https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-companies-ocean-centers.htm…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft reported that the servers in the underwater pod had a failure rate one-eighth that of the land-based control group, likely helped by the sealed, dry, nitrogen-filled environment and stable t…
https://cleantechnica.com/2026/06/01/underwater-data-centers…

help

Claim 16: “In 2025, Ulsan, South Korea, began planning an underwater data center that could house more than 100,000 servers and use 30% less power than land-based centers by using seawater for cooling.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support the claim about Ulsan, South Korea.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.