ByteDance Plans RMB 160 Billion in Capital Spending for 2026, With Half Allocated to AI Chips
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ByteDance is preparing to spend RMB 160 billion in 2026—half of it on AI chips—underscoring its ambition to lead China’s AI infrastructure race despite trailing U.S. tech giants in scale.
December 23 — According to the Financial Times, TikTok parent company ByteDance is planning a further increase in capital expenditure as it accelerates investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said ByteDance’s preliminary capital expenditure plan for 2026 totals RMB 160 billion (approximately USD 23 billion), up from about RMB 150 billion this year.
The bulk of the spending will be directed toward AI infrastructure, with roughly half earmarked for the purchase of advanced semiconductor chips to support the development of AI models and applications. ByteDance is expected to allocate around RMB 85 billion specifically to AI processors next year. Sources noted that ByteDance could significantly increase its overall capital spending if it is granted access to a larger supply of advanced chips.
While the scale of investment underscores the growing urgency among Chinese technology companies to compete in AI, it remains well below spending levels seen among U.S. tech giants. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta are expected to spend more than USD 300 billion combined this year on AI data center construction.
As one of China’s largest builders of AI infrastructure, ByteDance is seeking to secure a leading position in the global AI race. Its Doubao model has emerged as a dominant player in consumer-facing AI applications in China.
According to data from local analytics firm QuestMobile, Doubao ranks first nationwide in both monthly active users and downloads among AI apps. ByteDance is also intensifying competition with Alibaba through the expansion of its Volcano Engine cloud services.
Goldman Sachs analysts noted that ByteDance now operates the most widely used AI service platform in China. In October, the company’s average daily token usage surged to over 30 trillion tokens, compared with 43 trillion tokens at Google during the same period.
One ByteDance investor added that, compared with listed peers such as Alibaba and Tencent, ByteDance’s private-company status gives it greater flexibility to pursue aggressive, long-term AI investment strategies.
