ByteDance Nvidia chips are at the center of a major new deal, as the Chinese parent company of TikTok acquires access to Nvidia Blackwell hardware outside China through a partnership with a Southeast Asian cloud provider, pursuing broader artificial intelligence ambitions globally.
ByteDance is working with a Malaysia-based company called Aolani Cloud on plans to deploy approximately 500 Nvidia Blackwell computing systems, totaling around 36,000 B200 chips. The hardware involved would likely cost more than $2.5 billion if all arrangements are completed, according to people familiar with the matter.
ByteDance Nvidia Chips: The Malaysia Arrangement
Aolani is purchasing servers from Aivres, a company that assembles servers using Nvidia chips. An Aolani spokesman said the company currently operates with about $100 million in hardware. Since February 2025, Aolani has leased AI servers in Malaysia containing Nvidia H100 chips to ByteDance.
For the new Blackwell plan, ByteDance has made initial payments and the devices are set to be deployed in facilities in Malaysia, the people said. Aolani is a tier-1 cloud partner of Nvidia, meaning it holds certification for priority access to the company’s latest chips.
ByteDance’s Global AI Strategy
ByteDance plans to use the computing power for AI research and development outside China, as well as to meet rising demand from its global customers. The company already generates around a quarter of its revenue from outside China.
ByteDance operates five of the world’s 50 most popular AI consumer apps by monthly active users, according to a January ranking by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Its AI products include chatbot Dola, video creator Dreamina, and homework helper Gauth. The company’s AI video-generation model, Seedance, recently drew attention for its ability to convert script prompts into short movie scenes.
U.S. Export Controls and Geopolitical Context
For more than three years, U.S. export controls have prevented Nvidia from selling top-tier AI chips, including the Blackwell series, directly to China. Chinese technology companies have said the restricted access to computing power is limiting their AI development.
Chinese companies are consequently spending more to access computing power outside their own country, in regions where U.S. export-control rules are less clearly established. This has created a market of intermediaries who arrange data centers built with Nvidia chips and lease computing capacity to Chinese technology firms.
Aolani was established in late 2023 by a group of investors, including Singapore-based venture-capital firm K3 Ventures, with a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands. In a June 2025 business description, Aolani said “Asian hyperscalers” preferred working with partners like Aolani to ensure “compliance in the current geopolitical environment.”
“We adhere fully to all applicable export control regulations.”
Aolani Spokesman
“By design, the export rules allow clouds to be built and operated outside controlled countries.”
Nvidia Spokesman
Broader Expansion and Workforce Plans
ByteDance maintains sizable teams of AI researchers and engineers in Singapore, San Jose, California, and Seattle. These teams collaborate with colleagues in China on foundational AI research and product development for markets outside China.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that ByteDance was in talks to use AI servers containing more than 7,000 B200 chips at a data center in Indonesia. Additionally, ByteDance’s website lists more than 100 AI-related vacancies in San Jose and Seattle, signaling continued investment in its global AI workforce.
In January, ByteDance transferred control of TikTok’s U.S. operations to investors considered friendly to the United States, amid ongoing U.S.-China tensions that continue to affect the company’s global strategy.