ByteDance Gets $30 Billion Loan, Asia’s Second-Largest This Year

(Bloomberg) -- ByteDance Ltd., the developer of TikTok, has secured a $29.6 billion loan, according to people familiar with the matter, in Asia's second-largest dollar-denominated borrowing this year.

The Chinese tech giant, which is on the forefront of developing artificial intelligence technology, was originally seeking a $20 billion facility, but increased the size after gathering strong commitments from banks, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Proceeds will be used mainly for general corporate purpose.

The deal hasn't yet been signed, as banks are still in the process of signing back to confirm their allocations, one of the people added.

Beijing-based ByteDance has been rushing to build up its AI capabilities as industry peers pour money into related projects. The company is considering boosting capital spending to as much as $70 billion this year — more than double last year's total — to expand its data centers and other AI infrastructure.

Four US hyperscalers — Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. — are also planning capital spending sprees of as much as $725 billion this year, largely focused on AI data center equipment.

The only dollar-denominated loan deal in the region this year larger than ByteDance's facility was SoftBank Group Corp.'s $40 billion bridge loan signed in March.

ByteDance's jumbo loan carries one of the lowest margins for such borrowings among Chinese tech firms. The opening margin for the loan is 68 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, which will adjust if it extends the tenor. Its previous offshore loan carried a margin of 85 basis points over SOFR.

ByteDance didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

ByteDance's loan deal attracted more than $30 billion of orders before the commitment deadline, showing strong interest from lenders. The deal offers a break from a lending drought, after Asia's loan market experienced its weakest first-half performance in 16 years.

Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are the coordinators of the latest financing, which has a tenor of three years and can be extended to as long as five years.