ByteDance Gains Access to 36,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs Through Malaysia Cloud Partner

ByteDance Secures Massive AI Hardware Expansion in Malaysia

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has secured access to approximately 36,000 Nvidia Blackwell B200 GPUs through a cloud partnership in Malaysia, according to a Wall Street Journal

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report. The arrangement involves building Blackwell computing systems consisting of roughly 500 NVL72 GB200 rack-scale systems, with hardware valued at more than $2.5 billion1

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. The cluster will be formally owned and operated by Aolani Cloud, a Southeast Asian firm based in Malaysia that has achieved Tier-1 Nvidia partner status, granting it priority access to the chipmaker's newest AI accelerators1

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The deal represents one of the largest offshore cloud infrastructure projects aimed at circumventing US export restrictions without technically violating them. ByteDance plans to use this compute power for AI research and development purposes as the company seeks to maintain its competitive position in the global AI race1

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. According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal

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, the hardware will be supplied through Aivres, a company specializing in building servers based on Nvidia GPUs.

How ByteDance Is Working Around US Export Controls

The arrangement highlights how Chinese tech companies are finding ways to access advanced AI chips despite US export controls designed to limit China's access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology. While ByteDance cannot directly purchase Nvidia's latest Blackwell GPUs for use within China, US export regulations primarily focus on where hardware is physically shipped rather than who ultimately uses the compute power1

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. This creates a pathway for offshore cloud partners to legally provide access to restricted technology.

Aolani Cloud has been leasing AI servers equipped with Nvidia Hopper H100 GPUs in Malaysia to ByteDance since February 2025, suggesting the current deployment serves as a test vehicle to ensure technical compatibility and regulatory compliance before the massive Blackwell expansion1

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. An Aolani spokesperson confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the company currently operates with roughly $100 million worth of hardware, making the proposed $2.5 billion expansion a dramatic scale-up1

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Nvidia confirmed that the arrangement complies with current regulations. "By design, the export rules allow clouds to be built and operated outside controlled countries," an Nvidia spokesperson stated1

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. The company emphasized that all cloud partners undergo evaluation and clearance by Nvidia's field operations, finance, and compliance teams before receiving products1

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. Since ByteDance does not appear on the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List or Military End Use list, its potential use of Nvidia AI chips through a third-party cloud provider does not automatically trigger regulatory concerns1

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Renting Compute Power Becomes Strategic Workaround

The trend of renting compute power through data center partnerships has become increasingly popular among Chinese AI companies facing direct purchase restrictions. ByteDance is also reportedly considering additional deployments, including a cluster containing over 7,000 B200 GPUs at a data center in Indonesia1

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. This strategy of working with offshore cloud partners, primarily in Southeast Asian nations like Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, has emerged as the safest option for Chinese hyperscalers to advance their AI applications without running afoul of US regulations4

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Renting compute has become so prevalent that companies are starting to prefer using these services instead of purchasing Nvidia AI chips directly, creating new opportunities for "middlemen" who arrange the necessary cloud infrastructure4

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. While such efforts by Chinese AI giants aren't deemed unlawful under current US export policies, they raise questions about whether export controls are effectively limiting China's access to advanced computing capabilities4

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. The arrangement demonstrates that despite regulatory barriers, determined companies can still find compliant pathways to access restricted technology.

Implications for US Export Policy and the AI Race

The ByteDance-Aolani Cloud partnership exposes a significant gap in how US export controls are structured and enforced. Nvidia defended the current framework, arguing that winning cloud infrastructure business brings "tens of billions of dollars and high paying jobs home" to the United States1

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. The company warned that overly restrictive export controls risk ceding the world's second-largest commercial market to foreign competitors across Asia1

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Aolani was established in late 2023 and operates under a Cayman Islands holding structure, according to company registry documents1

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. Initial payments for the planned Blackwell deployment have reportedly already been made1

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. While many US lawmakers remain uneasy about Chinese companies using American AI accelerators through cloud services, this practice remains completely legal under the current export rules framework1

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. The situation illustrates the challenge policymakers face in balancing national security concerns with commercial interests and the practical realities of global cloud infrastructure. As Chinese tech companies like ByteDance, Tencent, and others continue investing in offshore cloud partners to obtain restricted hardware4

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, regulators may need to reconsider whether location-based export controls adequately address their strategic objectives in the intensifying global competition for AI dominance.