ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is dramatically expanding its artificial-intelligence capabilities by securing access to advanced chips produced by Nvidia.

The company plans to deploy approximately 500 Blackwell computing systems containing around 36,000 B200 AI chips through a partnership with cloud provider Aolani Cloud in Malaysia. The project could cost more than $2.5 billion, reflecting the rapidly growing demand for high-performance computing needed to train AI models. 

The expansion will allow ByteDance to increase computing capacity for its AI research and products while operating infrastructure outside mainland China.

Demand for advanced AI chips has surged worldwide as companies compete to develop large language models and other artificial-intelligence systems. Nvidia currently dominates the global market for AI hardware used in data centers and machine-learning applications.

Industry analysts say the deal demonstrates how global technology firms are investing heavily in computing infrastructure as the AI race accelerates.

Sources: Reuters, The Walkl Street Journal