TikTok News.

ByteDance spends over $1 billion annually on Microsoft's AI and cloud services, primarily buying OpenAI models through Azure. Microsoft sells these models in China despite OpenAI and Anthropic refusing direct sales there. Azure's AI revenue in China roughly tripled in the fiscal year ending June 2025.

ByteDance has been Microsoft's largest AI customer, spending over $1 billion annually on Azure services. The Chinese company primarily uses OpenAI models through Microsoft. This business continues despite escalating US-China tensions over artificial intelligence technology.

Kapwing found that 59% of videos on a new TikTok account are AI-generated, three times YouTube's 21% rate. Kids' content topped categories at 57% AI, with #cartoonkids at 97%. TikTok had labeled 1.3 billion videos as AI-generated by November.

Peacock is rolling out original Bravo microdramas and a TikTok-style scrollable feed this month. The first original vertical series is Campus Confidential. Peacock is licensing microdramas from ReelShort and using AI to convert horizontal footage into vertical format. A vertical sports stream for NBA and FIFA World Cup is in development.

ByteDance is negotiating to purchase artificial-intelligence chips from Iluvatar CoreX, a Shanghai-based GPU maker that previously sold almost entirely to government buyers. The talks highlight ByteDance's efforts to reduce its reliance on Nvidia.

TikTok's global head of business marketing, Isobel Sita-Lumsden, argues the platform's search behavior is about discovery, not information retrieval. Daily searches on TikTok are up 40% year on year. The company frames this as a "collapsed funnel" where discovery, consideration, and conversion happen simultaneously, strengthening its pitch for performance ad dollars.

ByteDance is negotiating with Shanghai-based Iluvatar CoreX to purchase AI inference GPUs. The company is also considering a deal to acquire Kunlunxin chips from Baidu.