According to Reuters, which cited people familiar with the matter, ByteDance has obtained loans totaling $29.6 billion from nearly 30 Chinese and international banks. Due to strong demand for subscriptions, the size of this dollar loan was increased from the initial target of $20 billion, indicating that banks still provide strong financial support for this TikTok parent company.

Loan scale exceeds the initial target.

Reports indicate that this loan was coordinated by Citibank and JPMorgan Chase, with participants including banks from China, the United States, Europe, and Singapore. Among them, a person familiar with the matter said that the subscription amount of Chinese banking institutions accounted for more than 60% of the total scale.

The loan term is 3 years, with the option to extend it by another 2 years. According to informed sources, financing of this scale is not common when there are fewer guarantee arrangements, and banks provide support more based on ByteDance's own creditworthiness.

The funds are mainly invested in overseas AI projects.

ByteDance stated to the lenders that the funds would be used for general corporate purposes. However, according to Reuters, which cited sources, the funds will mainly be used for the AI project outside of China, including the construction of data center capacity in Southeast Asia.

This move continues the company's AI expansion momentum over the past two years. Previously, there were reports that ByteDance planned to invest up to $12 billion in chips and overseas infrastructure, but the company raised objections to those figures at the time.

AI Competition Intensifies, Regulation Tightens in Step

Against the backdrop of increasing global investment in AI, ByteDance is not the only technology company to increase its spending. OpenAI received a $40 billion financing led by SoftBank in 2025, and SoftBank subsequently sold some of its NVIDIA shares to fund this investment.

At the same time, price competition among Chinese AI companies is also intensifying. Reports mention that DeepSeek and Xiaomi reduced the prices of their models in May this year, further widening the pricing gap with leading American models.

However, while ByteDance is advancing its AI business overseas, it also faces a stricter regulatory environment. In July of this year, the company took down the customizable avatar service in DouBao before new regulations were introduced. Chinese regulatory authorities have also discussed restricting access to advanced domestically developed AI models from overseas, which may impose new constraints on its international expansion strategy.