TikTok U.S. hunts for multiple gigawatts of computing capacity, sources tell CNBC

TikTok's U.S. entity is looking to secure multiple gigawatts of computing capacity, sources told CNBC, amid a global scramble for digital infrastructure deals.

The company, officially TikTok USDS Joint Venture, operates the social media platform in the U.S. and has sounded out opportunities to obtain capacity over the coming years, two people familiar with the discussions, who asked to remain anonymous as they weren't authorized to share the information, told CNBC.

TikTok U.S. is looking for four gigawatts of compute power by the early 2030s, one source said.

Companies across the world are looking to secure more compute capacity as artificial intelligence workloads become more prominent.

A company spokesperson told CNBC that the company "runs primarily on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in the U.S. and Oracle will continue to be our primary cloud infrastructure provider."

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI, typically runs in facilities that Oracle leases. CNBC has approached Oracle for comment.

There are signs TikTok U.S.' product plans could require extra compute going forward.

The company has numerous machine learning roles live on its website. A job advert posted by TikTok states that the company is "shipping a flagship B2B AI product at the frontier of large-model inference and creative automation."

TikTok USDS Joint Venture was established in 2026 in compliance with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order mandating the divestiture of TikTok in the U.S. from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

In January, TikTok U.S. said it would "retrain, test, and update" its prized recommendation algorithm, which is built on machine learning, on U.S. user data. The company's recommendation algorithm will be "secured in Oracle's U.S. cloud environment," it said.

TikTok U.S. has three managing investors, Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX, each holding 15%. The Dell Family Office, the investment firm of Michael Dell, is also an investor. ByteDance retained 19.9% of the new entity.