News
China reportedly bars ByteDance from deploying Nvidia chips in data centers.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
The Chinese government has reportedly placed restrictions on ByteDance that prevent the company from using Nvidia chips in its data center operations, according to a report by The Information.
Context
In response to U.S. export controls, major Chinese tech firms like Alibaba and ByteDance are shifting advanced AI model training to Southeast Asia. By leasing capacity from non-Chinese data center operators in Singapore and Malaysia, they retain access to high-end Nvidia GPUs. This trend is fueling a regional infrastructure boom, highlighted by Vantage Data Centers' acquisition of a 300MW hyperscale campus in Johor, Malaysia, which closed in November 2025 as part of a US$1.6B APAC investment.
Concurrently, these companies are deepening their reliance on domestic hardware for AI inference. AI developer DeepSeek is actively collaborating with Huawei to optimize its Ascend AI chips for these less computationally intensive tasks. This emerging dual-track strategy—offshore for cutting-edge training and onshore for scalable inference—is reshaping the global semiconductor and AI supply chain, creating distinct opportunities for both international data center providers and domestic Chinese chipmakers.
Sources (28)
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