Environmental Performance Implications of Intelligent Computing Centre Development: An Empirical Investigation Based on Chinese Cases

As a critical infrastructure carrier underpinning the cross-regional circulation of data elements within socioeconomic systems, intelligent computing centres (ICCs) confront a pivotal practical challenge amid the transition to a green economy: whether they can synergistically drive digital economy development while facilitating green growth. This question demands empirical verification from the perspective of social science systems practice. Drawing on panel data covering 292 Chinese cities at the prefecture level and above over the period 2010–2023, this study constructs a multidimensional difference-in-differences model with ICC construction as the core explanatory variable. Adopting a systemic analytical framework that integrates urban governance, industrial organization and regional coordination, it explores the impact of ICC deployment on urban environmental performance as well as the operational mechanisms embedded in socioeconomic practices. The findings demonstrate that ICC construction significantly enhances urban environmental performance. This conclusion remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns and conducting multiple robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis, grounded in social and regional contextual disparities, indicates that this positive effect is more pronounced in non-resource-based cities, cities with a strong focus on environmental governance and cities located in western China. Mechanism tests further clarify that such effects are achieved through two critical pathways of organizational and systemic transition, fostering green innovation and advancing industrial structure optimization. Moreover, by constructing a Spatial Durbin Model to analyse interregional systemic linkages, this study identifies a significant positive spatial spillover effect of ICC construction. This outcome reflects the cross-regional synergistic value of digital infrastructure within the national green economy system. From the perspective of social science systems practice, this study innovatively reveals the embedded role of digital infrastructure in the green economy system. It provides empirical support for optimizing the spatial layout of ICCs and offers targeted policy references for promoting the coordinated development of the digital economy and ecological environmental protection.