Wedoany.com Report-Dec.24, ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, has outlined preliminary plans for capital expenditure of approximately 160 billion yuan (about $23 billion) in 2026, focused on building artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to a report by the Financial Times published on December 22, 2025, citing people familiar with the matter.

This proposed budget represents an increase from the roughly 150 billion yuan allocated to AI-related infrastructure in the current year. The investment underscores the growing role of large-scale computing resources in the company's long-term strategy.

A substantial portion, around half or about 85 billion yuan, is earmarked for advanced semiconductors. These processors are essential for training and running increasingly sophisticated AI models, as well as supporting data centers and related facilities.

Access to high-performance chips has presented challenges for ByteDance and other Chinese technology companies due to export controls on cutting-edge AI hardware. In response, firms have pursued options such as leasing compute capacity overseas or utilizing available chip stocks.

ByteDance continues to invest significantly in domestic AI infrastructure development, positioning it as one of the leading contributors in this area within China. The company also leases data centers abroad to deploy advanced hardware for model training and international services, with such arrangements typically classified as operating expenses.

While substantial, ByteDance's planned outlay remains smaller than the collective investments by major U.S. technology groups. Those companies have committed hundreds of billions of dollars in recent years to AI-focused data centers, cloud infrastructure, and networking.

AI forms a core part of ByteDance's ecosystem, powering recommendation systems, content moderation, and advertising features on platforms like TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin. As generative AI integrates further into consumer and business applications, the need for reliable, high-capacity computing continues to grow.

The plans highlight the strategic emphasis on compute scale to sustain competitive digital services. ByteDance's efforts reflect broader trends in global AI development, where infrastructure priorities—including data centers and advanced processing—are evolving rapidly worldwide.

This announcement illustrates how technology firms are adapting to support expanding AI capabilities through targeted investments in hardware and facilities.