ByteDance, the Beijing-headquartered company behind TikTok, is in early-stage talks with banks to raise approximately $20 billion in what would be its largest offshore loan ever. The facility, first reported by Bloomberg News, would nearly double the company’s previous record for offshore borrowing.

What the deal looks like

The planned loan carries an initial three-year term with an option to extend to five years. Discussions remain preliminary, meaning the specific banks involved, interest rates, and final terms haven’t been locked down.

Proceeds are expected to go toward two areas: artificial intelligence investments and data center expansion.

ByteDance’s previous largest offshore borrowing came in 2024. The fact that the company is now looking to roughly double that figure tells you something about how quickly the cost of staying relevant in AI has escalated.

For context, $20 billion is a staggering sum even by the standards of global corporate lending. It places ByteDance’s ambitions alongside the capital mobilization efforts of publicly traded tech behemoths like Alphabet, which has been ramping up its own capital expenditures to fund AI infrastructure. The difference, of course, is that ByteDance remains private, which makes borrowing at this scale even more notable.

The AI spending war intensifies

ByteDance has particular incentive to invest heavily. TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, the engine that keeps users scrolling, is fundamentally an AI product. The company also operates Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese counterpart, along with a growing portfolio of enterprise and consumer-facing AI products.