ByteDance seeks to expand AI computing capacity in Inner Mongolia

TikTok parent ByteDance is seeking to expand its computing capacity by building out more data centres in north China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region in the next two years, according to a person familiar with the matter, another example of a Chinese tech giant stepping up its investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The company had been in preliminary talks with local data centre vendors to add between five and six gigawatts’ worth of compute in the city of Ulanqab, the person said, who asked not to be identified due to the private nature of the information.

The planned massive AI data centre cluster would be located in Ulanqab’s Jining district, an area that has attracted computing facility investments from other major Chinese technology companies including Huawei Technologies, short video and AI developer Kuaishou, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, as well as Apple, the source said, adding that ByteDance was aiming for delivery by early 2028.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

The data centre push comes as the company reportedly secured a US$29.6 billion loan from a group of banks, the second-largest dollar-denominated loan in Asia this year, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday.

Typically, the cost of upfront investment for a one-gigawatt AI data centre was around 160 billion yuan (US$23.8 billion), according to a research note published by Soochow Securities last month, meaning that ByteDance’s new facility – at between five and six gigawatts – could cost roughly 800 billion to 960 billion yuan.