ByteDance ready to invest USD 70 billion in data centres and AI

The Chinese AI race does not stop, and one of its most important players, ByteDance, is preparing a significant increase in investment in the sector. The company that owns TikTok, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg, is reportedly discussing spending up to $70 billion between 2026 and 2027 on data centres and AI infrastructure, with the aim of strengthening its position in the Chinese market and competing with major US groups abroad.

A major expenditure, in short, which the Beijing giant would finance largely from the approximately $50 billion in profits earned in 2025.

The plan highlights the difference in approach between US and China in the development of artificial intelligence. In the United States, the four major hyperscalers (Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta) have announced total investments of up to USD 725 billion this year for AI infrastructure and new models. In China, by contrast, the big internet groups have been more cautious so far. Tencent indicated capital expenditures of 79.2 billion yuan in 2025, while Alibaba Group reported investments of 126 billion yuan in the financial year ending March. These figures are significantly lower than those of the star-studded giants.

According to analysts, ByteDance is now aiming to consolidate the advantage it has built in segments such as chatbot and generative video, while also exploiting the lower costs of data centres in China compared to the US. This difference would allow the Chinese group to build equivalent computing capacity with lower investment than its US competitors.

The company also recently reached a agreement to purchase millions of chips from Qualcomm for its AI agentica services. All this while its chatbot Doubao, is now the most widely used in China with over 300 million monthly users. The company is also reportedly preparing paid subscription models, a choice that is still uncommon in the Chinese online services market.