Zinger Key Points
- ByteDance plans to spend $7 billion on Nvidia chips outside China to fuel its AI revolution.
- With Doubao and an AI chip in development, ByteDance is positioning itself as a major AI player.
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ByteDance, the Chinese tech powerhouse behind TikTok and Douyin, is charging ahead in the AI race, and it’s doing so with a very big chip on its shoulder—or rather, chips.
In a bold move to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) footprint, the company is set to spend up to $7 billion in 2025 on Nvidia Corp NVDA chips outside China, The Information reports. This massive investment could make ByteDance one of Nvidia's biggest customers globally, despite the U.S. ban on AI chip exports to China.
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At the helm of this strategic AI push is ByteDance’s founder, Zhang Yiming, who's been quietly turning the company into an AI juggernaut. The goal? Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), systems with human-like intelligence.
As TikTok's growth slows and the U.S. threatens a TikTok ban, Yiming is pivoting toward cutting-edge AI infrastructure and talent—gobbling up top engineers from rivals like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA BABAF.
And while the U.S. tightens the screws on chip exports, ByteDance is finding creative ways to power its AI ambitions.
Nvidia's Role: A Double-Edged Sword
So, how is ByteDance working around the export ban?
For one, it's snapping up Nvidia’s H20 AI chips, a customized, less powerful version of Nvidia's famed GPUs, meant to comply with U.S. restrictions, according to The Times of India. But ByteDance isn't stopping there.
The company is also securing access to Nvidia's top-of-the-line H100s and Blackwell chips, which it plans to use in data centers outside China, including newly established facilities in Malaysia.
ByteDance's Chatbot Showdown: Doubao Vs. ChatGPT
While ByteDance builds its AI empire, it's also launching a new AI chatbot—Doubao—set to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT in China.
Gaining traction fast, Doubao is attracting millions of monthly users, thanks to its robust multi-functional capabilities in search, translation, and content generation.
With Cici AI already making waves overseas, ByteDance's AI ecosystem is beginning to look like a serious contender in the global race for AI supremacy.
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