TikTok Invests $8.8 Billion in Thailand Data Centers, Bypassing US-China Tech Tensions

ByteDance’s TikTok committed $8.8 billion in data centers in Thailand over five years, Reuters cited VP Helena Lersch on Friday.

Prior reports indicated Nvidia Corp NVDA eying investments in Thailand after Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google and Microsoft Corp’s MSFT move as Southeast Asia becomes a hub for artificial intelligence data centers and component manufacturing.

Thailand has attracted multibillion-dollar investments in data centers and cloud infrastructure from Amazon.com Inc AMZN, Google, and Microsoft.

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Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions continue to intensify between the U.S. and China over access to advanced artificial intelligence and other semiconductor technology. Washington has imposed multiple semiconductor technology sanctions on China, restricting its access to technologies from the likes of Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co TSM.

ByteDance reportedly plans to invest over $12 billion in AI infrastructure by 2025. It has allocated nearly $5.5 billion for AI chip acquisitions within China and plans to invest around $6.8 billion overseas to improve its model training capabilities using Nvidia chips.

About 60% of ByteDance’s domestic semiconductor orders will likely be fulfilled by Chinese suppliers like Huawei Technologies and Cambricon. The remaining orders will involve Nvidia’s China-tailored chips.

In January, Thailand’s investment board announced a $3.8 billion deal.

Also Read:

• Nvidia Faces New AI Chip Challenge As Huawei Gains Ground In China Despite US Sanctions

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