(Yicai) April 17 -- Jinko Power Technology surged to its daily trading limit after the developer of solar power plants announced plans to invest CNY24.5 billion (USD3.6 billion) to build a large-scale computing center in Zhongwei, marking its entry into the green computing sector.

Shares of Jinko Power [SHA: 601778] hit the upper limit of 10 percent in early trading, reaching their highest level since early March 2022. The stock had already been capped the previous day and has climbed about 40 percent this week, reflecting strong market expectations for the project.

The investment will fund a computing center with a total IT load capacity of 1 gigawatt in Zhongwei, a desert tourism hub in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a key part of China’s East Data West Computing project. The data transfer project, launched in February 2022, aims to relocate computing demand from eastern regions to western areas to leverage renewable energy and improve efficiency.

Jinko Power said yesterday that it signed an investment intention agreement with the Zhongwei municipal government to deploy about 50,000 computing cabinets in the Xuanhe area of the Zhongwei data center cluster. The project will be built in three phases, with the first phase involving an investment of about CNY10 billion to construct 400 MW of IT load capacity. The second and third phases will require investments of about CNY6 billion (USD880 million) and CNY8.5 billion, respectively, each adding 300 MW.

Jinko Power is one of China’s major solar power station developers, and its controlling shareholder also controls Jinko Solar, a leading photovoltaic equipment manufacturer. This is Jinko Power's first investment in a computing center project.

Once operational, the facility will provide standardized cabinet leasing and data center support services, generating revenue through service agreements with clients. Jinko Power aims to transform from a renewable energy operator into a green computing and integrated energy service provider, enhancing its resilience to industry cycles and long-term growth potential.

The company did not disclose the electricity source for the project, but said the Zhongwei government will assist in securing photovoltaic project quotas and power access resources, while supporting participation in pilot programs for zero-carbon parks and computing-power-energy integration.

Zhongwei, which is rich in renewable energy resources, is the only city among China’s eight major computing hubs to hold both a national computing network hub node and a national new-type internet exchange center qualification. It mainly handles non-real-time and disaster recovery computing demand from eastern regions and serves as a core hub for green computing capacity in western China, supported by direct green power supply and low-latency networks.

Editor: Emmi Laine