VNET vs TMC Comparison

VNET started as AsiaCloud in 1999 and moved into the data center business, opening its first self-developed data center in 2010. The firm listed (as 21Vianet) on the Nasdaq in April 2011, subsequently changing its name to VNET Group in 2021. It originally focused on providing data center services such as colocation and cloud services to retail clients in China, but added hyperscale customers in 2019 and now counts large Chinese hyperscalers such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Huawei Cloud as customers. At the end of September 2025, it had 52,288 retail cabinets, with the majority in Beijing, Shanghai, and the Greater Bay area. It also had 783 MW of wholesale capacity in service, with a further 306 MW under construction and a further 705 MW held for future development.

TMC The Metals Co Inc is a deep-sea minerals exploration company focused on the collection, processing, and refining of polymetallic nodules found on the seafloor in international waters of the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ). Polymetallic nodules are discrete rocks that sit unattached to the seafloor, occur in notable quantities in the CCZ, and have high concentrations of nickel, copper, cobalt, and manganese in a single rock. The company believes these four metals contained in the polymetallic nodules are critical for energy infrastructure and industrial manufacturing. The Company's business consists of only one operating segment, namely exploration of seafloor polymetallic nodules, which includes the development of a metallurgical process to treat such seafloor polymetallic nodules.