ByteDance's substantial investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is projected to exceed $12 billion in 2025, according to a Financial Times report citing unnamed sources.
This strategy emerges as the Chinese firm encounters pressure from the U.S. government to divest its widely-used video-sharing platform in the United States.
A ByteDance representative stated that the information regarding their plans is inaccurate, responding to the Financial Times report.
According to the report, ByteDance intends to invest 40 billion yuan (approximately $5.50 billion) in acquiring AI chips within China in 2025, while also committing around $6.8 billion internationally to enhance its foundation model training capabilities with advanced Nvidia chips.
Nvidia chose not to comment on the report.
The report indicates that approximately 60% of ByteDance's domestic semiconductor purchases will be directed towards Chinese suppliers, including Huawei and Cambricon, with the remainder allocated to Nvidia chips that have been modified to comply with U.S. export regulations.
Additionally, it was noted that Beijing has advised its technology companies to source at least 30% of their chips from domestic suppliers.
Requests for comments from TikTok, Huawei, and Cambricon were not immediately answered by Reuters.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order to postpone a ban on TikTok, which was initially set to take effect on January 19.