To comprehensively understand the basic construction of intensive care unit (ICU) in the secondary and tertiary hospitals in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and to provide a theoretical basis for the development direction of critical care medicine and the rational allocation of medical resources in our region. On the March 14th, 2020, a cross-sectional survey of 147 ICU in 122 hospitals in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was conducted using an online questionnaire. The survey included 6 modules: the basic conditions of the hospital, ICU profile, ICU human resources status, equipment allocation, technology development, and ICU quality control. Among the 147 ICUs, there were 69 ICUs in tertiary hospital and 78 ICUs in secondary hospital. 75.51% (111/147) were comprehensive ICU and 24.49% (36/147) were specialized ICU. The total number of ICU beds was 1 818, accounted about 2.43% (1 818/74 912) of the total number of hospital beds. In ICU terms of human resourse, physicians/beds ratio was 0.54:1, and nurses/beds ratio was 1.55:1. Physicians/beds ratio in the secondary hospitals was 0.52:1, and nurses/beds was 1.45:1; physicians/beds ratio in the tertiary hospital was 0.56:1, and nurses/beds ratio was 1.79:1. The ICU management model was mainly closed management (82.99%, 122/147), and the proportion of closed management in tertiary hospitals was 88.41% (61/69), which was higher than that in secondary hospitals (78.21%, 61/78). In aspect of ICU equipment, the invasive ventilator/bed ratio, enteral nutrition infusion pump/bed ratio, and blood purifier/bed ratio in the tertiary hospitals were significantly higher than those in the secondary hospitals [0.70 (0.46, 1.00) vs. 0.45 (0.33, 0.67), 0.18 (0.00, 0.56) vs. 0.00 (0.00, 0.13), 0.08 (0.00, 0.13) vs. 0.00 (0.00, 0.10), respectively, all P < 0.01]. In the tertiary hospital, the chest sputum excretion device, blood gas analyzer, blood purification instrument, transport ventilator, fiber bronchoscope, enteral nutrition infusion pump, bedside ultrasound machine, continuous hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism monitor, electroencephalogram bispectral index monitor, bedside electroencephalography machine and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) were also superior to the secondary hospitals. ICU technologies, such as deep venipuncture, jejunal nutrition tube placement, percutaneous tracheotomy, invasive blood pressure monitoring, invasive hemodynamic monitoring, bedside ultrasound examination, continuous blood purification, fiber bronchoscopy, high frequency ventilation, intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation (IABP), and ECMO had also performed better than secondary hospitals. In the management of ICU medical quality control, in tertiary hospitals, the proportions of single or isolated room for patients with drug-resistant bacteria, 1-hour bundle and hemodynamic monitoring for patients with septic shock, routine prone position ventilation and lung recruitment for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), common analgesic, and use of personal digital assistant (PDA) for pre-operation scan code by nurses and electronic medical record for routine rounds were significantly higher than those in secondary hospitals (91.30% vs. 85.90%, 68.12% vs. 48.72%, 85.51% vs. 70.51%, 28.99% vs. 12.82%, 85.51% vs. 61.54%, 76.81% vs. 61.54%, 71.01% vs. 29.49, 49.28% vs. 28.21%, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). 89.74% (70/78) ICU in secondary hospitals and 89.86% (62/69) of tertiary hospitals used acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) to evaluate the severity of critically ill patients; in terms of sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), the difference between the secondary hospitals and the tertiary hospitals was not statistically significant (51.28% vs. 62.32%, χ2 = 1.814, P = 0.178). Although the ICU construction of the tertiary hospitals in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is more complete than secondary hospitals, there is a big gap between the requirements of the national guidelines and the developed regions in the east. The ICU's investment in human resource, equipment and supporting facilities allocation, promotion of suitable technology, and medical quality control management should be increased to promote the development of critical care medicine in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.