China's ByteDance just secured access to top NVIDIA AI chips
What's the story
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is reportedly planning to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) data center in Malaysia. The move comes as part of its $2.5 billion investment in high-end NVIDIA chips outside China. According to The Wall Street Journal, that ByteDance has partnered with South Asian firm Aolani Cloud for this ambitious project.
Server acquisition
Aolani Cloud to purchase servers from Aivres
Aolani Cloud is said to be purchasing the servers needed for this project from Aivres, a company that specializes in assembling servers with NVIDIA hardware. The plan includes around 500 NVIDIA Blackwell computing systems, which would include some 36,000 B200 chips. If everything goes according to plan, the entire hardware setup would cost over $2.5 billion.
AI ambitions
Meeting global AI demand
ByteDance intends to use the computing power from this data center for AI research and development outside China. The company also hopes to meet the growing demand for AI services from its global customers, who contribute to a quarter of its revenue. This move is part of ByteDance's broader strategy to strengthen its position as a global leader in artificial intelligence technology.
Global presence
ByteDance's existing AI ecosystem
ByteDance already has a strong presence in the AI space, operating five of the top 50 most popular AI apps by monthly users. The company also has large teams of AI engineers and researchers around the world, including in San Jose, Seattle, and Singapore. These teams work with their Chinese counterparts on foundational AI research.
Partnership details
Aolani's role in the project
Aolani, the firm working with ByteDance on this project, has started leasing AI servers in Malaysia with NVIDIA's H100 chips to the TikTok parent since February 2025. For this new project, ByteDance has already made initial payments. The company is one of many that have cropped up as middlemen arranging for data centers built with NVIDIA tech and leasing them to Chinese tech firms amid US-China tensions.