The Gobi Desert is one of the most isolated places on the planet. Spanning 1.3 million square kilometres across Mongolia and China, it is the world's sixth largest desert and is known for its harsh climate and nomadic culture.
It may not, then, seem like the logical place to build a data centre, but Envision Energy, the Shanghai-based renewables giant, is about to do just that.
Speaking at VivaTech 2026 in Paris, Envision announced 'Mission Gobi', an initiative that will see the firm develop 5GW of data centre capacity across the desert by the year 2030.
Generally, data centres tend to be located reasonably close to metropolitan areas, with suburban hubs like Slough in the UK or Ashburn in the US being prime examples.
But with the race to power data centres heating up, the sector is increasingly seeing developers build where they can access a reliable supply of energy.
