According to CNBC, citing sources familiar with the matter, TikTok’s U.S. entity is seeking to secure several gigawatts of computing power amid global competition for digital infrastructure deals.
Two people familiar with the discussions told CNBC that the company, officially named TikTok USDS Joint Venture, which is responsible for operating the social media platform in the United States, has engaged in talks regarding opportunities to secure computing capacity over the coming years. Due to being unauthorized to speak publicly, both individuals requested anonymity.
One source said the U.S. entity of TikTok aims to secure 4 gigawatts of computing power before the early 2030s.
As AI workloads become increasingly important, businesses around the world are seeking to secure more computing capacity.
A company spokesperson told CNBC that the company "primarily operates on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in the U.S., and Oracle will continue to be our primary cloud infrastructure provider."
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, abbreviated as OCI, typically runs in facilities leased by Oracle. CNBC has contacted Oracle for comment.
There are indications that TikTok's U.S. entity may require additional computing power for future product planning.
The company's official website currently lists several machine learning positions. A recruitment post by TikTok states that the company is "launching a flagship B2B AI product at the forefront of large model inference and creative automation."
TikTok's U.S. entity will localize algorithm training.
The TikTok USDS Joint Venture was established in 2026 to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order requiring TikTok's U.S. operations to be divested from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
In January of this year, TikTok's U.S. entity stated that it would "retrain, test, and update" its core recommendation algorithm based on U.S. user data. At the time, the company said its recommendation algorithm would be "securely deployed in Oracle's U.S. cloud environment." This recommendation algorithm is built on machine learning.
TikTok’s U.S. entity has three managing investors—Silver Lake, Oracle, and MGX—each holding a 15% stake. Michael Dell’s investment vehicle, Dell Family Office, is also an investor. ByteDance retains a 19.9% stake in the new entity.