ByteDance

ByteDance is a Beijing-based company that operates some of the world’s most popular social media platforms, including TikTok and Douyin. Founded in 2012, the company has quickly grown into one of the largest and most innovative technology firms globally, with a focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Notable executives include founder Zhang Yiming, CEO Liang Rubo and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. ByteDance has recently faced scrutiny from governments and competitors over data privacy and national security concerns. Despite these challenges, the company remains a major player in the global technology industry, with a growing footprint in markets around the world.

Recent Articles about ByteDance

Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad. XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty.

Nvidia’s China Business Still Hostage to Geopolitics

By Martin Peers · Jan 7, 2026 5:00pm PST

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang must feel like a child whose parents are perpetually at war. Weeks after he glimpsed a chance to resume sales of AI chips to China—thanks to approval from President Donald Trump—China has said, “Not so fast.” As our Hong Kong reporter Qianer Liu scooped today, the Chinese government has asked local tech companies to... Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang must feel like a child whose parents are perpetually at war. Weeks after...

Art by Clark Miller

What We Got Right (and Wrong) in Our Predictions for 2025

By The Information Staff · Jan 2, 2026 10:34am PST · 3 comments

What’s that smell? It’s the whiff of humble pie being eaten by The Information’s prognosticators. A year ago, we made a series of predictions about tech deals that would get done, executives who would leave their companies and other events that we thought might happen in 2025. Many of those predictions did not come to pass. In our defense, when... What’s that smell? It’s the whiff of humble pie being eaten by The Information’s prognosticators....

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images, Blue Origin.

Sutskever’s Fate, OpenAI’s Next Deal, A Hit Robot—and 13 Other Predictions for 2026

By The Information Staff · Jan 2, 2026 9:00am PST · 13 comments

No one in Silicon Valley gets wealthy or powerful by dwelling on the past. Rather, the brightest minds within tech often outshine the competition by obsessing about the future. We like to get in on the game too. In keeping with annual tradition, we’re publishing below our best educated guesses on what’ll happen in 2026: what Microsoft buys, what... No one in Silicon Valley gets wealthy or powerful by dwelling on the past. Rather, the brightest...

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How Artificial Intelligence Will Change in 2026

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 31, 2025 7:00am PST

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How Artificial Intelligence Will Change in 2026

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 31, 2025 7:00am PST

Welcome to the last AI Agenda issue of 2025! Lots went down this year (check out yesterday’s newsletter for a full recap), and we expect things to get even crazier in 2026. Welcome to the last AI Agenda issue of 2025! Lots went down this year (check out yesterday’s ...

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Chen Yongnuo/CNS/VCG via Getty Images.

Two IPO-Bound AI Model Developers Reveal Their Losses

By Juro Osawa · Dec 24, 2025 7:00am PST

Two Chinese AI startups are vying to be the first publicly traded AI model providers in the global stock market, ahead of expected future initial public offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic. The Chinese firms’ IPO filings offer a window into the hardship facing smaller AI firms that don’t have older cash-cow businesses.Shanghai-based MiniMax... Two Chinese AI startups are vying to be the first publicly traded AI model providers in the...

Judge Amit Mehta. Getty Images.

Tech's Big Winners of 2025: Google, Musk and ByteDance

By Martin Peers · Dec 21, 2025 3:00pm PST

We’re heading into the holidays, when a look back at 2025 seems natural (and a good way to make up for the relative lack of news!). Let’s start with Google’s amazing turnaround in 2025. Not only did it emerge mostly unscathed from the antitrust litigation regarding search, it made a giant leap forward in the AI market. Conspiracy theorists will... We’re heading into the holidays, when a look back at 2025 seems natural (and a good way to make...

Disney CEO Bob Iger. Michael Reaves/Getty Images

OpenAI’s Mickey Mouse Deal

By Martin Peers · Dec 11, 2025 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

When you’re on your back foot, as OpenAI has lately been, what better way is there to take the offense than to announce a Mickey Mouse deal? Take OpenAI’s partnership with Walt Disney Co., unveiled on Thursday morning. Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in the ChatGPT creator and will license 200 characters from its film and... When you’re on your back foot, as OpenAI has lately been, what better way is there to take the...

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Disney-OpenAI; AI Startup Valuations Keep Falling as Revenue Rises

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 11, 2025 8:34am PST

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Disney-OpenAI; AI Startup Valuations Keep Falling as Revenue Rises

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 11, 2025 8:34am PST

Before we get to today’s column, we have to mention Disney and OpenAI’s big partnership announcement this morning. As part of a new three-year licensing agreement, OpenAI’s video app Sora and ChatGPT will be able to generate image and video content that includes characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Mickey Mouse and Iron Man from... Before we get to today’s column, we have to mention Disney and OpenAI’s big partnership...

Photo by Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Tencent Poaches ByteDance Researchers as China AI Race Heats Up

By Juro Osawa, Qianer Liu and Jing Yang · Dec 11, 2025 5:00am PST · 1 comment

Throughout the past couple of years, as AI fever swept China’s technology sector, one giant—Tencent—seemed to mostly be sitting on the sidelines. The company, which owns the hugely popular WeChat app, didn’t seem enthusiastic to win a fierce race in the country to develop cutting-edge AI models, competing with the likes of DeepSeek,... Throughout the past couple of years, as AI fever swept China’s technology sector, one...

Art by Clark Miller.

China Weighs Nvidia Chip Purchase in Emergency Meetings With Tech Companies

By Qianer Liu · Dec 10, 2025 2:00am PST

China on Wednesday gathered its biggest tech giants to discuss whether to allow them to buy Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips, as President Donald Trump’s recent decision to allow the export of the powerful hardware to the country suddenly complicated Beijing’s goal to become technologically self-sufficient. Officials convened a series of emergency... China on Wednesday gathered its biggest tech giants to discuss whether to allow them to buy...

Photo by Getty Images; Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Developing ‘Garlic’ Model to Counter Google’s Recent Gains

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 2, 2025 7:00am PST · 2 comments

OpenAI, which in recent weeks has appeared to fall behind Google in AI development, is fighting back with a new large language model codenamed Garlic.Last week, OpenAI’s chief research officer Mark Chen told some colleagues about the new model, which was performing well on the company’s evaluations, at least when compared to Gemini 3 and ... OpenAI, which in recent weeks has appeared to fall behind Google in AI development, is fighting...

Ilya Sutskever and Dwarkesh Patel. Screenshot via YouTube

OpenAI Co-Founder Sutskever Joins the Skeptics

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 1, 2025 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Ilya Sutskever and Dwarkesh Patel. Screenshot via YouTube

OpenAI Co-Founder Sutskever Joins the Skeptics

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 1, 2025 7:00am PST · 3 comments

As Sri and I head to San Diego for the annual Neural Information Processing Systems conference this week (get in touch if you’ll also be there!), we’re excited to learn more about reinforcement learning, the model training technique du jour at all the major AI developers.There’s rising skepticism among researchers, including OpenAI co-founder ... As Sri and I head to San Diego for the annual Neural Information Processing Systems conference...

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ByteDance Challenges Alibaba’s Reign in China’s AI Cloud Market

By Juro Osawa · Dec 1, 2025 4:00am PST

ByteDance is best known in the U.S. as the owner of TikTok. In China, the tech giant is also becoming known as a major force in cloud computing—so much so that it is now threatening Alibaba Group, long the undisputed king of cloud services in China. In one sign of the intensifying rivalry, executives at Alibaba have started to focus on the... ByteDance is best known in the U.S. as the owner of TikTok. In China, the tech giant is also...

Sunday Insights

Why China Doesn’t Want to Buy More Nvidia Chips

By Qianer Liu · Nov 30, 2025 7:59am PST · 3 comments

Three years after the U.S.’s sweeping export restrictions that cut off Chinese access to AI chips, China has managed to turn the situation around. For the next five years, it will have more AI chips than its companies need. The excessive supply is a combination of local chipmakers catching up and tech companies stockpiling Nvidia chips via both... Three years after the U.S.’s sweeping export restrictions that cut off Chinese access to AI...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

China Is Slowly but Surely Breaking Free From Nvidia

By Qianer Liu · Nov 26, 2025 4:00am PST

ByteDance bought more Nvidia chips than any other Chinese company in 2025, according to three people with direct knowledge of its purchases. Racing to secure computing power for its billion-plus users and fearing Washington might suddenly cut off supply, the TikTok parent hoarded its stock of the chips. ByteDance’s fears about a supply crunch... ByteDance bought more Nvidia chips than any other Chinese company in 2025, according to three...