China Telecom · Tencent · Apple iCloud (GCBD) · Gui'an New Area, Guizhou, China
Water — consumed, not returned
Taken from the basin2,264M gal/yr
Evaporated on site492M gal
Making the power1,772M gal
Basin stressLow
Where the water comes from
Surface water — river, lake or canal
Cooling
Mountain-cave siting with natural cooling; evaporative supplement
Basis
Modelled from cooling design — WUE 0.81 L/kWh
Air — what the stacks emit
Nitrogen oxides1,018t/yr
Sulphur dioxide925t/yr
Fine particulates153t PM2.5
Health damages$127M/yr
Where it burns
China — Guizhou
Generation mix
Coal 55 · Hydro 38
CO₂e
930 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
Who wanted it
Who asked for it
Chinese state carriers and platforms; Apple is required by Chinese law to host mainland iCloud data domestically
Who approved it
National 'East Data, West Computing' hub designation; Guizhou provincial siting on hydro supply
What it serves
Chinese cloud regions; Apple's iCloud data for mainland users is operated here by GCBD
IT capacity
400 MW running of 900 MW announced
Guizhou's hydropower and karst caves made it China's first big data province. Included because it is the clearest example of data sovereignty law, rather than economics, deciding where compute physically sits.
Water and air figures are modelled from disclosed capacity, not measured — site-level
error is roughly ±40%. Diesel backup generators are not counted, so on-site figures are floors.
Full method.