Can a $550 billion valuation support a trillion-yuan investment? Chip restrictions are forcing a low-cost approach, and the quarterly adjustment explanation shows that even ByteDance is feeling its way across the river.

ByteDance plans to raise this year’s capital expenditures to about $70 billion, to expand AI infrastructure, with a budget of RMB 4000–5000 billion; if the environment is favorable, it could increase to about $100 billion, or even as high as $100 billion, next year. Its expansion scale is far beyond that of domestic peers. Although Tencent and Alibaba have also made investments, it is difficult to match ByteDance’s single-year scale. Affected by chip export controls, the low costs in China remain a key advantage. The company is supplementing computing power through its own data centers and customized ASICs, while also advancing AI research and development. Its valuation is about $550 billion, and future spending will be adjusted on a quarterly basis.