ByteDance plans to pump $20bn capex mostly into AI as it defends its AI lead in China

Chinese ByteDance reportedly plans a $20 billion capital expenditure in 2025, mainly targeting AI as the tech giant seeks to defend its AI lead back home.

Sources who spoke to Reuters revealed the TikTok owner will pump a significant chunk of the total money (150 billion yuan or $20 billion) abroad into AI infrastructure development.

ByteDance has a lineup of firms to benefit from the initiative

ByteDance plans to use the money to develop AI infrastructure such as data centers, and networking equipment, according to the unnamed sources.

The Reuters article shows that ByteDance has a lineup of big tech firms that it targets with this capex. These include fellow Chinese firms Huawei, Nvidia, and Cambricon Technologies.

According to the company, this funding will help it defend and consolidate its AI lead back home in China where competition is also heating up among tech giants in that country.

ByteDance started AI applications in 2024 as a laggard, but it now has over 15 standalone AI applications. This is more than what its rivals like Tencent Holdings and Baidu. ByteDance’s apps in China include Doubao, which means “bean bag” and has 75 million worth of monthly active users, according to Quest mobile data.

The tech giant also operates a text-to-video generator known as Jimeng and an image generator known as Xinghui. It also has a platform for custom chatbot development and Maoxiang which offers roleplay and emotional support.

Unlike its Chinese peers, ByteDance has made overseas counterparts for its biggest apps. Doubao, ByteDance’s flagship AI model, is internationally known as Cici while Jimeng is known as Dreamina.

The future of ByteDance’s TikTok in the US remains hanging by a thread

This is also expected to foster ByteDance’s AI offerings abroad at a time when the tech giant is grappling with the future of TikTok in the US. TikTok woes have been prevalent since last year after the US House members agreed on a bill that could ban the video app, attached to aid for Ukraine and Israel, pressuring the Senate to vote in favor

Although used by over 170 million people in the US, TikTok might not last in the US unless it parted ways with its Chinese parent company ByteDance, according to the bill which resembled an earlier version approved sometime in March. That version also emphasized banning the TikTok app from US app stores unless it found new owners with haste.

However, on Monday President Donald Trump signed an executive order for a 75-day delay in the enforcement of a ban on TikTok. According to Reuters, it has also been unclear how the 2025 plan compared with prior years as the private company does not disclose its financial details.

Earlier this week, the Financial Times also reported that ByteDance had planned $12 billion for AI infrastructure. Prior to this, The Information had reported a plan of up to $7 billion to access Nvidia chips outside China to which the US restricts high-tech exports.

According to Reuters, ByteDance is already the largest client for Nvidia’s H20 AI chips which were tailormade for China in response to the US restrictions. ByteDance is also Microsoft’s biggest client in Asia for Nvidia chips accessible via cloud computing, sources told Reuters.

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