BEIJING (Jan 23): ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has earmarked over 150 billion yuan (US$20.64 billion or RM91.46 billion) in capital expenditure for this year, much of which will be centred on artificial intelligence (AI), two people briefed on the matter said.
The privately held technology giant plans to spend about half of the amount abroad on AI-related infrastructure, primarily data centres and networking equipment, they said.
The main beneficiaries of the spending will be chipmakers Huawei Technologies and Cambricon Technologies, plus US supplier Nvidia, the people said, declining to be identified as the information was confidential.
ByteDance said: "The anonymously sourced information about our spending is incorrect." It didn't elaborate.
Nvidia declined to comment. Huawei and Cambricon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
The spending will help ByteDance defend its AI lead at home. Having begun 2024 as a laggard, it now has over 15 stand-alone AI applications, more than rivals such as Baidu and Tencent Holdings, and including top chatbot Doubao.
The money will also reinforce AI offerings abroad at a time when ByteDance is grappling with the future of TikTok in the US. US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order for a 75-day delay in the enforcement of a ban on the short-video app.
It is unclear how the 2025 plan compares to prior years, as the private company does not disclose financial details.
On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that ByteDance planned US$12 billion for AI infrastructure. In December, The Information reported a plan for up to US$7 billion to access Nvidia chips outside China, to which the US restricts high-tech exports.
ByteDance is already the biggest buyer of Nvidia's H20 AI chips, which the US chipmaker tailored for China in response to restrictions, Reuters reported in September. The TikTok owner is also Microsoft's biggest client in Asia for Nvidia chips accessible via cloud computing, sources have told Reuters.
Its AI apps in China include Doubao, meaning "bean bag", with 75 million monthly active users, QuestMobile data showed.
It also operates text-to-video generator Jimeng and image generator Xinghui, as well as Kouzi, a platform for custom chatbot development, and Maoxiang, which offers role-play and emotional support.
Unlike domestic peers, ByteDance has created overseas counterparts for its biggest apps. Internationally, Doubao is called Cici, and Jimeng is Dreamina.
On Wednesday, ByteDance updated its flagship AI model — also called Doubao — aimed at challenging Microsoft-backed OpenAI's reasoning model products.
Still, its spending is modest compared to US tech giants. Google parent Alphabet planned US$50 billion for chips, data centres and other expenses last year, whereas Microsoft spent US$55.7 billion in its fiscal year through June 30, with a significant portion on AI infrastructure.
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee