TAIYUAN, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- As sunset light streamed through the windows of JD Logistics' customer service center in the city of Datong, hundreds of customer service agents calmly responded to user inquiries, their efficiency boosted by artificial intelligence (AI).

"AI has revolutionized our workflow," said Peng Guoshuai, a team leader at the center. "For example, modifying delivery addresses used to require manual coordination with local stations. Now, with mini-apps, we resolve such issues swiftly, cutting communication costs and improving user experience."

According to Xue Cheng, manager of the center, nearly 30 percent of the 20 million calls handled last year were resolved through AI-supported systems. The computing power behind these operations is supplied by JD Cloud's data center in Lingqiu County under Datong, whose first phase became operational in October 2023. Two additional phases are currently under construction.

This shift exemplifies how Datong -- a city long synonymous with coal -- is embracing computing as a new engine for economic growth and transformation.

Located in north China's Shanxi Province, Datong produced 162 million tonnes of raw coal last year and has been called the "Ruhr of China." But with high-quality coal reserves dwindling, the city is pursuing new opportunities in computing.

Datong offers natural advantages for data centers, with its annual average temperature of 6 degrees Celsius providing "natural cooling," which significantly reduces energy consumption for server maintenance.

In 2018, Chindata Group chose Datong for its hyperscale data center campus. "Indirect evaporative cooling can be used for seven months a year here, slashing electricity costs," said Deng Wenying, maintenance manager at the group's Datong branch. "Our average PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) has dropped to 1.185, well below the national requirement of 1.25."

Low electricity costs and abundant green energy resources further strengthen Datong's appeal. New and renewable energy now accounts for 56.46 percent of the city's total installed power capacity.

"Datong's rich renewable energy and low electricity prices were major factors in our decision to invest here," said Xuan Liwei, general manager of ZDATA Technologies' Shanxi branch.

The city's proximity to Beijing -- only 200 kilometers away -- ensures a latency of just 3 milliseconds to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei computing hub, making it an attractive location for tech firms.

Major companies, including JD.com, ByteDance, and ZDATA Technologies, have already established computing centers in Datong. According to the 2025 computing power index released at this year's China Computing Power Conference, the city now ranks third nationally in urban computing capacity.

"With a cumulative investment of 49.1 billion yuan (about 6.9 billion U.S. dollars) in servers and 28.2 billion yuan in infrastructure, Datong's computing industry is market-driven and services top internet firms," said Ning Wenxin, Party chief of Datong's economic and technological development zone. He added that the municipal government will enhance policy and talent support to sustain growth.

In May, Datong Vocational College of Data Technology was established to cultivate professionals in big data and AI, reinforcing the city's commitment to becoming a national hub for computing and data annotation. ■