ByteDance Secures $29.6 Bn Loan From Nearly 30 Banks For AI Expansion

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and Douyin, has secured a $29.6 billion loan from nearly 30 banks as the Chinese technology company steps up spending on artificial intelligence, according to a Reuters report. The three-year facility is being coordinated by Citigroup and JPMorgan and is expected to be signed shortly.

The loan was increased from an initial target of $20 billion after lenders showed strong interest in the financing, the news agency reported. More than 60% of the total amount has been subscribed by Chinese banks, according to the report.

AI Push Drives ByteDance’s Funding Needs

ByteDance told lenders that the financing would be used for general corporate purposes. However, according to the news agency, the funds are mainly expected to support the company’s AI-related plans.

The financing is particularly notable because it is unsecured, meaning ByteDance is not offering assets or shares as collateral. One source described such a large unsecured loan as unusual, suggesting lenders have strong confidence in the company’s creditworthiness.

The facility has an initial three-year term, with options to extend it by another two years, according to the news agency.

ByteDance Expands AI Infrastructure Overseas

The dollar-denominated loan will be used for projects outside China, one source said. ByteDance is also an offtaker for several data centres being developed in Southeast Asia, meaning it has agreements to purchase part of their computing capacity.

ByteDance has been increasing its focus on AI hardware and infrastructure. Reuters reported in June that the company was in talks to buy AI chips from Shanghai-based Iluvatar CoreX for inference work and was considering a similar arrangement with Baidu.

Omdia chief analyst Lian Jye Su said ByteDance is competing with local hyperscalers in AI data centres and with global hyperscalers in multimodal AI models. Both areas require substantial investment as companies race to build AI computing capacity.

ByteDance last raised money through the global loan market in September 2024, securing $10.8 billion from around 20 international and Chinese lenders, according to a Bloomberg report at the time. The latest facility is nearly three times that amount, underscoring the scale of ByteDance’s current funding needs as it expands its AI operations.