WSJ: ByteDance Circumvents Ban, Deploys 36,000 Cutting-Edge Blackwell Chips in Malaysia

The Wall Street Journal reports that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has obtained authorization. They are building a large-scale AI computing infrastructure in Southeast Asia, planning to deploy approximately 500 Nvidia Blackwell AI systems in Malaysia, totaling about 36,000 B200 GPUs to support their global AI expansion. Sources indicate that the total cost of related equipment could exceed $2.5 billion.

ByteDance Builds AI Computing Base in Malaysia

The report states that ByteDance is collaborating with a Southeast Asian company called Aolani Cloud to advance this project. Aolani will purchase AI servers equipped with Nvidia chips from server integrator Aivres, then deploy them at data centers in Malaysia. If the deal goes smoothly, this project will become an important foundation for ByteDance’s overseas AI infrastructure. Insiders say ByteDance has already paid part of the deposit, and the equipment will be deployed at the Malaysian facilities.

Circumventing U.S. Chip Export Restrictions via Southeast Asia

Since 2023, the U.S. government has implemented stricter AI chip export controls on China, restricting Nvidia from directly selling the most advanced GPUs (such as the Blackwell series) to Chinese companies. As a result, Chinese tech firms have difficulty acquiring enough computing power to develop large AI models. In this context, Chinese companies are beginning to obtain computing resources through overseas data centers. This has led to a new industry model: intermediary companies establishing cloud data centers overseas with Nvidia GPUs and renting out the computing power to Chinese tech companies.

Nvidia states that export regulations permit the construction and operation of AI cloud infrastructure outside China, so related collaborations are conducted within a compliant framework.

ByteDance’s Global AI Strategy

In recent years, ByteDance has actively entered the AI field, aiming to compete with U.S. tech giants like Google and OpenAI. Besides TikTok, the company has launched several AI applications, including the AI video model Seedance, which recently gained market attention for its ability to generate realistic short scenes from text scripts.

However, geopolitical factors remain a significant variable in ByteDance’s global expansion. In January, ByteDance transferred control of TikTok’s U.S. operations to Oracle, Silver Lake Management LLC, and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX in exchange for development space.

(ByteDance announced the establishment of a U.S. joint venture, TikTok USDS, to resolve regulatory issues)

Currently, about a quarter of ByteDance’s revenue comes from markets outside China. The company continues to strengthen overseas computing and R&D resources, aiming to establish global competitiveness in AI applications. In addition to Malaysia, reports have previously indicated that ByteDance has discussed deploying over 7,000 B200 GPUs in AI servers at an Indonesian data center.

This article, WSJ: ByteDance Bypasses Ban, Deploys 36,000 Cutting-Edge Blackwell Chips in Malaysia, first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.