ByteDance plans over $30 billion for AI expansion, bets big on Chinese chips

TikTok parent ByteDance is raising its planned AI infrastructure spending for 2026 to over 200 billion yuan (roughly $30 billion), the South China Morning Post reports. That's at least a 25 percent increase over an earlier plan of 160 billion yuan.

The jump reflects ByteDance's growing AI ambitions and rising memory chip prices. The company is increasingly turning to Chinese chips to reduce geopolitical risks and meet Beijing's push for domestic semiconductors. ByteDance is also expanding its infrastructure abroad, including a $25 billion project in Thailand and an additional $1.2 billion data center in Finland.

Still, the numbers are modest compared to US tech giants: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are collectively planning around $725 billion in AI spending for 2026, and that figure keeps climbing.