SemiAnalysis China Datacenter Model: 24GW delivered in China vs 56GW in the US, with BAT capex doubling to $20B in 2Q26
SemiAnalysis·medium signal
The 25 Sep launch counts 1,000+ Chinese facilities across 60+ operators, with about 20GW in the pipeline and 30GW more announced, and says ByteDance leases about a fifth of delivered capacity. Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu spent a combined $20B in 2Q26, double the year before, and all three posted negative free cash flow in the same quarter. A 100MW build now takes 12 months, down from 18, and permitting takes 3-6 months against 12-13 in the US. That permitting gap limits how fast US capacity can respond.