Why Google, Amazon and Microsoft Need Chinese Data Center Suppliers

AI Summary

U.S. data center operators rely on Chinese suppliers for equipment such as batteries, cooling systems, and optical transceivers, despite growing national security scrutiny and political opposition. Chinese manufacturers' cost and availability advantages, compared with long U.S. lead times and supply shortages, make them difficult for major builders to replace.

U.S. data center operators’ reliance on Chinese manufacturers for batteries, cooling systems, optical transceivers and other equipment has come under scrutiny over national security concerns. But Chinese equipment makers have an edge over their American counterparts, which have been criticised for long lead times amid supply chain shortages. So despite rising hostility from the Trump administration and a bipartisan group of U.S. senators to the Chinese suppliers, American data center builders like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle can’t avoid them.