Ulanqab, a small city on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, is known as China's "Potato Capital" for its abundant potato harvests. Today, this same land is producing an entirely new kind of product — Tokens. From growing potatoes to "growing" Tokens, what changes has this small grassland city brought to its young people?
More than a hundred data centers have gathered in Ulanqab, creating a severe shortage of operations and maintenance talent. At present, Ulanqab has attracted over 100 data center projects, generating enormous demand for professional infrastructure operations and maintenance personnel. To address this, the local human resources and social security department has organized more than twenty rounds of skills training programs to supply talent to data centers. Right now, trainees at Ulanqab Vocational College are nervously preparing for job interviews at data centers in just a few days. Ao Demu, an instructor at Ulanqab Runchuang Industrial College, explained that with so many data centers being built, talent is urgently needed — often orders for graduates arrive before training has even finished. So far, the program has trained over a thousand students.
Twenty-three-year-old Chen Gang is a native of Ulanqab. He works as an infrastructure operations and maintenance technician at a data center. This time, he was specially invited by his former teacher to return to the school and share his interview experience with current students. Chen Gang said that an infrastructure operations technician's main job is daily inspections to ensure the safe operation of power, cooling, server room, and other equipment, which requires a solid command of electrical, HVAC, low-voltage, and fire safety knowledge.
From growing potatoes to "growing" Tokens, young people now have new hope
Today, Chen Gang works with cutting-edge technology every day, but just two years ago, he was uncertain about his future. Chen Gang's home is in Chayouhou Banner, Ulanqab, where generations of residents have made their living growing potatoes. Many young people chose to leave and find work elsewhere, and Chen Gang was no exception — he once found a job as a hotel waiter in Qingdao, Shandong Province. In 2022, Inner Mongolia was included as one of the eight major computing hub nodes under the "East Data, West Computing" initiative. With an average annual temperature of only 4.3°C and abundant wind and solar energy resources, Ulanqab was designated as a starting zone of the hub. Within just a few short years, data center projects from multiple leading enterprises landed here one after another. Seeing his hometown's development, Chen Gang resolved to seize the opportunity and throw himself into this most cutting-edge industry. He quit his job and returned home, enrolled in local skills training programs, and studied from circuit principles to HVAC equipment late into the night every day, eventually landing a position at a data center. This year, he also passed the college-to-university upgrade exam and is currently pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation.
This year, more than twenty additional computing power enterprises have established operations in Ulanqab, attracting a growing number of young people back to their hometown. The data centers rising one after another have connected this once-quiet grassland city to frontier industries, bringing new hope and dreams to its young people. Trainees at Ulanqab Runchuang Industrial College said, "The job prospects in big data are getting better and better. I want to learn new knowledge and have a professional skill." Another added, "My wish is to succeed in my interview soon and build a career in this industry." Chen Gang said, "On this land, our family grew potatoes for generations. Now it's about 'growing' Tokens. We young people have a much better future ahead."