The newest building at Hengqin's Advanced Intelligent Computing Center was recently topped off to provide, by mid-2023, computing power support for more technology companies, universities, and R&D institutions in the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone.
The nine-floor main building is soon to have a "curtain wall" constructed for its façade. The design implements geometric figures, which will eventually take the form of chip-like shapes. Bids are out for the installation, but the work is to be completed in mid-2022.
Located on the east side of West Huandao Road at the foot of Small Hengqin Mt, the Phase III site covers 13,000 sqm (3.2 acres) and has 41,200 sqm (443,473 sq ft) of floorage. This third phase of expansion at the center includes a five-story energy building and three-floor stereo garage with 55 parking spaces.
Rendering of Hengqin Advanced Intelligent Computing Center Phase III [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Da Heng Qin Property]
The first floor of the main building will consist of an exhibition hall. The second to eighth floors are to hold machine and support rooms, and the top floor is for offices, according to Yue Wei, a Zhuhai Da Heng Qin Property contractor. The basement of the energy building will house fire water ponds while four upper floors are for equipment, Yue added.
Notably, underground pipelines connect the new phase to the adjacent Number 7 Cold Site in Hengqin as a vital cooling system for the processors. The cooling source is a nearby power plant, emphasizing the concept of ecological protection.
Established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Guangdong, Zhuhai, and Hengqin governments in May 2019, the Hengqin Center possesses computing power of up to 1.16 exa-operations per second (Eops) and relies on Cambricon's neural network chip. It now has 2,300 servers, equal to the computing power of 300,000 home computers, according to Sun Yongjie of Zhuhai Da Heng Qin Technology Development.
Construction started in April 2020 at a cost of 2.07 billion yuan ($323.59 million). The center's second phase commenced operation in early 2020.