TOPIC

/ company

ByteDance

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ByteDance

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ByteDance is best known as the owner of the global short-video and shopping platform TikTok. It also operates the similar Douyin app in China. Both apps have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, especially among younger people. ByteDance has been the focus of strained relations between China and the West, with policymakers in the US, Canada and Europe expressing concern that TikTok's Chinese ownership puts sensitive user data within reach of the Chinese government.

Chairman / President

Rubo Liang

CEO / Managing Director

Zhang Yiming

CFO / Finance Director

Julie Gao

Industry

IT / Tech / Telecoms

Website

bytedance.com

Headquarters address

Haidian, Beijing, China

Year founded

2012

ByteDance

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Robot variety show: tech brands to take part in China’s most-watched broadcast

ByteDance, Unitree, RedNote, Bilibili and Kuaishou among the firms involved in the unparalleled nationwide marketing opportunity.

ByteDance ‘strengthening safeguards’ after Seedance AI video controversy

Why cooling is the new chips: China pivots to AI’s heat challenge

Beijing warns tech giants to curb ‘involution’ amid AI giveaway war

Companies should ‘uphold a fair and competitive’ environment to ‘foster innovation and healthy development’, regulator says.

The AI future is now, and markets are reacting differently in the US and China

Investor jitters grow in the US as AI reshapes expectations, but China’s markets have so far reacted with caution rather than panic.

Hollywood shaken by Brad Pitt-Tom Cruise fight video made with Chinese AI

The viral clip was generated with a two-line prompt on Seedance 2.0, a platform owned by ByteDance, the company behind TikTok.

Mercedes to accelerate localisation as China revenue slump hits 2025 profits

Despite a weak outlook, the company unveils a strategy to further localise production in China, introduce AI-based upgrades and launch new models.

China’s Zhipu AI launches new major model GLM-5 in challenge to its rivals

The GLM-5 represents a shift in AI development from ‘vibe coding’ to ‘agentic engineering’ to generate an enhanced performance.

ByteDance joins Chinese rivals offering freebies in bid to acquire AI app users

TikTok parent plans to give more than 100,000 tech products as gifts, as well as red packets through lucky draws on the Doubao app.

China’s ByteDance, Alibaba unveil AI image tools to rival Google’s popular Nano Banana

The tech giants’ new image models lower the barrier for individual users or businesses to produce professional-looking images.

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Editorial | China could benefit from AI disruption to software-as-a-service sector

It seems likely the AI industry will simply swallow up the SaaS sector in China without too much financial or employment damage.

ByteDance’s new model sparks stock rally as China’s AI video battle escalates

Seedance 2.0 thrills early adopters with cinematic realism and fuels debate over AI’s role in filmmaking and content creation.

My Take | TikTok deal good for Chinese owners but terrible for users in the United States

The social media platform, now majority owned by Americans, will herald a new era of state control and corporate manipulation of US citizens.

US software rout spills over to China’s SaaS sector

The software sector in China has long been constrained by slower cloud adoption and a weaker appetite for recurring subscription fees.

Sweet surge: Qwen overtakes Yuanbao after Alibaba’s bubble tea campaign

More than 10 million free orders put Alibaba’s AI app in the spotlight amid a high-stakes battle for Spring Festival attention.

TikTok ‘addictive’, EU finds in digital law probe

European Commission cites TikTok’s ‘highly personalised’ system, slams safeguards as ineffective.

China’s humanoid makers pivot from ‘body’ to ‘brain’ as commercial race heats up

Dobot claims its self-developed vision-language-action model lets humanoid robots react to the real world rather than just perform preprogrammed tasks.

TikTok tax time: ByteDance ‘encourages’ Chinese staff to declare global income

ByteDance’s notice to overseas staff reflects Beijing’s widening net over citizens’ foreign income.

China’s chip champion Moore Threads sees beyond silicon with push into AI coding

Moore Threads is betting on AI coding software to complement its flagship GPU, as the battle for developer tools intensifies.

When context is everything, AI models still struggle in the real world: Tencent

Despite rapid advances, today’s top AI models are still “brittle” in messy, real-world environments, according to new Tencent research.

Tencent’s giveaway campaign for AI chatbot Yuanbao blocked – by WeChat

Units clash as super app blocks links from AI chatbot’s US$144 million promotion for ‘impacting user experience and causing harassment’.

Chinese AI firms defend safety practices, push back on Western criticism

Chinese developers stress cultural context in AI safety, as domestic models narrow the gap with their US rivals to the closest level yet.

Funding surge powers Chinese robotics firms as focus shifts to humanoid ‘brains’

State-backed funds, Big Tech drive fresh capital into robotics companies, betting on operating systems that underpin humanoid intelligence.

Red packet rumble: will Tencent’s cash giveaway work again in crowded AI market?

Analysts say strong competition from ByteDance, DeepSeek, Ant Group and Alibaba may prevent Tencent’s Yuanbao from repeating WeChat glory.

Alibaba’s Qwen ramps up AI app race with Spring Festival giveaway blitz

Alibaba unveils US$432 million campaign to push mass-market adoption of its AI as rivalry with Tencent, Baidu and ByteDance intensifies.

China tech giants ByteDance and Alibaba to ramp up AI infrastructure efforts

The two firms’ actions are poised to further intensify the global AI arms race.

Can China’s AI strategy challenge India’s reign as ‘office of the world’?

Beijing’s ambition to move up the value chain could see it becoming a major exporter of digital services, AI to global high-end providers.

China’s humanoid robot sales to double this year as costs fall: Morgan Stanley

The US investment bank revises its China robot sales forecast to 28,000 units this year, while it sees parts prices falling 16 per cent.

Editorial | China could benefit from AI disruption to software-as-a-service sector