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Exclusive | ByteDance to pour US$14 billion into Nvidia chips in 2026 as computing demand surges
Chinese unicorn’s computing needs have climbed across its portfolio of popular apps, cloud unit Volcano Engine and large language models
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Wency Chenin Shanghai
ByteDance plans to spend about 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion) on artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia in 2026, a hefty increase from roughly 85 billion yuan in 2025, if the US company is allowed to sell its H200 graphic processing units in China, according to people familiar with the matter.
The budget, which could change, is part of the Beijing-based unicorn’s ambitious capital spending plan in AI for 2026. The company, with a private market capitalisation of US$500 billion, has built up a chip design unit that employed around 1,000 staff, one of the people briefed on the situation said.
ByteDance’s internal chip unit has made progress in the tape-out of a processor that matches the performance of Nvidia’s H20 chip, a China-tailored chip, but at a lower cost. It is not the only Chinese tech group attempting to develop its own chips for long-term control over supply and costs.
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The company, which runs social media platforms TikTok and Douyin, was also investing in memory technologies such as high-bandwidth memory, pursuing a mix of in-house development and stakes in related start-ups, the person added.
ByteDance does not disclose its budget on chips or its semiconductor development plans. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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