ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is expanding its artificial intelligence investments and plans to spend around 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) on Nvidia chips in 2026, up from about 85 billion yuan this year, according to reports. The increase reflects the company’s push to scale AI capacity across its apps, cloud services, and large language models.
Sources indicate ByteDance’s total AI budget could rise to as much as 160 billion yuan by 2026 as computing needs grow across TikTok, Douyin, its Volcano Engine cloud platform, and internal AI systems.
Alongside buying Nvidia hardware, ByteDance is also advancing its in-house semiconductor efforts. Its chip division has reportedly completed the tape-out of a new processor aimed at competing with Nvidia’s H20 chip in China, positioning it as a lower-cost alternative. The company is also investing heavily in memory technologies, including high-bandwidth memory, to support large-scale AI workloads.
On Nvidia’s side, demand from China remains strong despite policy uncertainty. The company is considering expanding production of its H200 AI chips, as Chinese firms explore large orders. U.S. policy developments could still complicate sales, with new export conditions and fees under discussion.
Analysts continue to view Nvidia as the global leader in AI computing, though uncertainty around China-related regulations remains a key risk as worldwide demand for AI hardware continues to surge.