TikTok owner ByteDance said to secure $29.6bn loan for AI push

Investing.com -- ByteDance secured a $29.6 billion loan from nearly 30 banks on Friday, Reuters reported on Friday. The Chinese social media company's focus on artificial intelligence development attracted strong interest from lenders.

The loan ranks as the second-largest made in Asia this year, following SoftBank's $40 billion raise in March to boost OpenAI investments.

Chinese, U.S., European and Singaporean banks are reportedly participating in the financing. Citigroup and JPMorgan are coordinating the three-year loan, which ByteDance is expected to sign shortly.

The owner of Douyin and TikTok increased the facility from an initial target of $20 billion after receiving an overwhelming response from lenders. Chinese banks have subscribed to more than 60% of the total amount, the report said.

ByteDance is said to have told lenders the financing would be for general corporate purposes, but the funds will mainly support the company's AI-related plans.

The facility has an initial term of three years with options to extend for two more years.

The dollar-denominated facility is unsecured, meaning ByteDance is not pledging any asset or shares as collateral. The loan will be used to fund projects outside China, with ByteDance serving as the offtaker for many data centers being built in Southeast Asia.

ByteDance has increased its AI spending. In June, the tech firm was in talks with Shanghai-based Iluvatar CoreX to purchase AI chips for inference work and was considering a similar deal with Baidu.

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