Recent reports indicate that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has successfully secured access to NVIDIA’s latest high-end AI chips. Despite the ongoing U.S. trade restrictions, ByteDance has utilized a strategic workaround to obtain this cutting-edge hardware. The company has partnered with Southeast Asian cloud infrastructure company, Aolani Cloud, to make this possible. ByteDance is reportedly deploying at least 500 NVIDIA Blackwell servers in Malaysia, providing the company with approximately 36,000 B200 chips to power its global AI ambitions.
How ByteDance Secured Blackwell Chips
ByteDance has executed a strategic move to acquire NVIDIA’s most advanced technology. To navigate U.S. trade restrictions that prohibit importing high-end chips to China, the company has shifted its AI-focused activities to Southeast Asia. In this endeavor, they have partnered with Aolani Cloud, which sources its hardware through Aivres.
Aivres is an AI infrastructure provider that buys the Blackwell B200 chips from NVIDIA and assembles specialized high-performance servers. These systems are then sold to Aolani Cloud, a Singapore-based firm that operates data centers in neutral territories like Malaysia. ByteDance is funding or renting the deployment of these servers, thereby gaining access to the massive computational power needed to train its advanced AI models.
By utilizing a third-party cloud firm to manage physical hardware outside Chinese borders, ByteDance gains access to one of America’s most powerful “prohibited” technologies without violating current export laws. This approach allows the company to maintain its lead in the global AI race while remaining compliant with current export controls.
U.S. Export Controls on AI Chips
Following the trade restrictions in 2025, the U.S. government reevaluated its stance on semiconductor exports in January 2026. In a landmark decision, Washington approved the export of NVIDIA’s H200 chips to selected Chinese firms, provided the sales were subject to a 25% tariff and rigorous third-party testing within the United States. However, the government strictly prohibited the export of the more advanced Blackwell B200 chips.
In February 2026, a US official confirmed that even with the government approval, the shipments had yet to reach China, largely due to ongoing negotiations over security guardrails. The official also shared that the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek had trained its latest models using the restricted Blackwell B200 chips. These chips were reportedly sourced through a cluster at its data center in Inner Mongolia.
While DeepSeek allegedly smuggled the B200 chips, ByteDance has taken a different path. By partnering with firms based in Southeast Asia, the company is accessing the same prohibited technology legally. This proves that, despite Washington’s best efforts to wall off its technology, the world’s most powerful chips are still being utilized by Chinese tech giants through both illegal leaks and clever legal workarounds.
ByteDance Accelerates Global AI Expansion
According to industry reports, the Malaysia-based Blackwell deployment will cost over $2.5 billion. This investment is a part of ByteDance’s much larger strategic plan to empower its AI ambitions. In December 2025, it was reported that ByteDance is planning to spend $23 billion on capital expenditure focused on AI infrastructure in 2026 alone. Approximately half of that massive budget is earmarked for acquiring advanced semiconductors to support the development of next-generation AI models and applications. By securing access to NVIDIA’s high-end Blackwell B200 chips, ByteDance is positioning itself at the front of the global AI arms race.
