Stepping into a new "lithium" era, DEEP SOURCE (00990) reveals the hidden layout of computing power.

On the evening of May 29, the Hong Kong-listed company DEEP SOURCE (00990) announced that its subsidiary has signed a purchase agreement and processing agreement for spodumene ore, purchasing 150,000 tons of spodumene ore for 345 million RMB, and processing it into lithium concentrate to "support the group's production planning and operational continuity." This is another announcement in the company's recent expansion into the lithium value chain business. It is worth noting that the announcement also mentioned that this transaction will provide a foundation for the company's business expansion in the industries related to resources, energy, and AI infrastructure applications. This is the first time that DEEP SOURCE, a company with a Southeast Asian industrial background, a layout in the lithium value chain, and an international trade network, has clearly mentioned the direction of AI and computing power business in an announcement. The announcement indicated that DEEP SOURCE has agreed with the target of this transaction, Anhui Dazhong New Energy Investment, to purchase 150,000 tons of spodumene ore at a price of 2300 RMB per ton, and has locked in a purchase price of 3.45 billion RMB. The agreement stipulates that all of this batch of ore will be processed into lithium concentrate, with a total processing cost of 18 million RMB. By locking in high-grade spodumene ore and processing through ore selection, DEEP SOURCE continues to extend upstream into the lithium resource chain. In the past month, DEEP SOURCE has been active in the field of lithium resources. On April 27, the company announced plans to acquire 100% of Tortuga de Oro S.A.'s issued shares to gain opportunities for the layout of the Aliyarro Salt Lake lithium salt project in Argentina. Aliyarro Salt Lake is located in the heart of South America's "Lithium Triangle" and is the sixth largest salt lake in the world that has not yet been developed. According to information disclosed by XIZANG ZHUFENG RESOURCES (600338.SH) earlier, the project covers an area of about 365 square kilometers with estimated resource potential exceeding 10 million tons of lithium carbonate. At the beginning of May, the company announced the addition of four new directors, two of whom play important roles in the salt lake lithium and hard rock lithium mining industries, respectively. One of the directors, Zhu Haifei, manages China's leading salt lake lithium extraction project equity acquisition fund, the Cangqing Fund, through Wuxi Tuohai. The Cangqing Fund holds equity interests in three major Tibetan salt lakes, namely Mami Cuo, Jieze Chaka, and Longmu Cuo, with a total control of approximately 6.077 million tons of lithium carbonate resources. The other director, Lin Pusong, currently serves as a director and general manager of Dazhong Mining (001203.SZ). Dazhong Mining's lithium mica and spodumene projects have a total reserve of approximately 4.72 million tons of lithium carbonate resources in the initial mining area, with a planned total production capacity of 130,000 tons per year. In addition, in September last year, DEEP SOURCE entered into a 10-year purchase arrangement for 200,000 tons of lithium carbonate for the Mami Cuo Salt Lake project in Tibet. The company has announced plans to start mining production in July this year. DEEP SOURCE's executive director Xu Hang told reporters that behind lithium mining is the entire lithium value chain, and behind the lithium value chain is energy storage, stable electricity, and green computing power. DEEP SOURCE hopes to expand towards AI computing power by strengthening resources and tapping into energy. "Resources support energy, energy supports computing power, and computing power supports AI. We see the trend of data center construction in Southeast Asia and hope to seize the opportunity to gradually build the 'resource-energy (energy storage)-infrastructure-computing power-AI ecosystem.'" Data shows that the explosive demand for AI computing power has boosted the construction of data centers in Southeast Asia. Over the past five years, Johor, Malaysia, adjacent to Singapore, has become the fastest-growing region for data center expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, with a capacity growth of up to 5262%. Many major companies in China and the United States are strategically positioning computing power in Southeast Asia, but the limited availability of electricity, land, water cooling, and other infrastructure bottlenecks constrain the supply of data centers. It is at this pain point that DEEP SOURCE has demonstrated unique potential for "breaking through." Public information shows that DEEP SOURCE has multiple industrial layouts in Southeast Asia, and its affiliate company Green Esteel is a recognized regional green steel leader, with the largest green steel capacity and HBI (hot briquette iron) capacity in Southeast Asia. Green Esteel has production bases in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The company owns the Singapore-listed company BRC Asia with over 80 years of history, the Antara HBI factory in Malaysia with over 40 years of history, and investments in the green steel park in Sabah state, Malaysia in recent years. Its steel industry chain is complete, with a large scale, and has sufficient capacity to schedule electricity, land, water cooling, and energy resources. Market expectations suggest that DEEP SOURCE, relying on Green Esteel, has built up the "hard power" of traditional steel industry chain accumulation in energy and infrastructure, seamlessly converting it into the "base" of the AI computing power era. In the future, as the company gradually realizes its strategic transition towards the "resource-energy-computing power-AI ecosystem," its valuation logic is expected to shift from a single trading platform to a reassessment as a high-barrier computing power infrastructure service provider, with the company's subsequent layout being highly anticipated.