Chinese company ByteDance, owner of the popular video service TikTok, intends to invest 160bn yuan ($23bn) next year in artificial intelligence technologies, the Financial Times reports, citing informed sources.
Investment in this area totalled 150bn yuan this year.
According to the sources, ByteDance, in particular, plans to spend 85 billion yuan on purchases of AI chips next year.
The sources note that there is uncertainty regarding the supply of popular H200 chips from US-based Nvidia to China. Washington had earlier approved the sale of such processors to Chinese customers, but Beijing has not yet issued its authorisation.
ByteDance intends to purchase 20 thousand of these chips as part of a test order. As sources say, the company may increase capex next year if all restrictions on H200 sales to China are lifted.
ByteDance has developed its own Doubao chobot, which has become the most popular in China, according to analytics firm QuestMobile. It is also promoting its cloud-based business solution Volcano Engine.