The invention discloses an I-shaped tree type cross flow heat exchanger which comprises a heat exchange tube bundle, a shell, a tube box and a tube plate, wherein the tube box and the tube plate are positioned at two sides of the shell; two ends of the heat exchange tube bundle are fixed on the tube plate, and are communicated with the tube box after penetrating through the tube plate; the heat exchange tube bundle is of the I-shaped tree structure; the I-shaped tree structure at least comprises one tree unit structure, wherein each tree unit structure comprises heat exchange tube bundles with two layers of tree structures and tail end communicating pipelines, and the last stage branch ports of the heat exchange tube bundles of the two layers of tree structures are communicated by the tail end communicating pipelines. According to the invention, the shell space is fully utilized, the heat exchange area required by the heat exchange of fluid is increased greatly, the path optimization functions of fluid transportation and energy transmission are realized, the power consumption of a fluid flow pump can be decreased effectively, and the flow heat exchange can be intensified, and the aim of efficient heat exchange and energy conservation is achieved.