ByteDance Ramps Up AI Chip Spending with $14B Nvidia Purchase Plan
ByteDance is preparing to spend $14 billion on Nvidia AI chips in 2026, surpassing its 2025 budget of $12.15 billion, as demand for computing power grows across its apps, Volcano Engine, and LLMs. The final figure remains unconfirmed, and Nvidia’s ability to sell H200 GPUs in China hinges on recently lifted export restrictions.
The company’s in-house chip division has advanced development of a cost-effective alternative to Nvidia’s H200, tailored for the Chinese market. ByteDance, valued at $500 billion, operates a 1,000-person chip design unit and invests heavily in memory technologies and AI startups.
Doubao, ByteDance’s chatbot, processed 50 trillion tokens daily in December—a twelvefold increase year-over-year—while Volcano Engine positions itself as a key AI cloud provider.
