The road to rolling out Apple Intelligence to iPhone users in China has hit many potholes as regulatory hurdles mean that partnering with local giants will be a necessity when bringing generative AI features to the masses. Apple was previously reported to be engaging with Tencent and ByteDance and using their AI models to enter the Chinese market. According to the latest reports, the Cupertino giant may have a higher probability of collaborating with ByteDance as ByteDance has increased its capital expenditure in 2025 to double compared to this year.

In total, ByteDance is expected to invest $22 billion over the next year in AI data centers, which would greatly interest Apple.

As demand for generative AI increases, additional server capacity will be needed to meet these requirements. As reported by Economic News Daily, ByteDance immediately seized the opportunity to meet this demand by doubling capital spending by 2025 to $22 billion, or 160 billion yuan. The investment will be used to purchase AI data center real estate, with additional capacity to handle billions of daily queries.

Seeing how serious ByteDance is about generative AI, Apple may want to forge a partnership with the entity as soon as possible. This year, ByteDance’s capital expenditure was 80 billion yuan, almost equivalent to the funds injected by China’s three internet giants, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Compared to OpenAI, ByteDance’s generative AI model ‘Doubao’ ranks second only to the company behind ChatGPT in terms of global users, making it the obvious choice for Apple when entering China.

As the California-based giant reaches a market cap of $4 trillion, analysts say that Apple Intelligence’s current capabilities and reach are limited, but if expanded, it could lead to an iPhone supercycle. Given that China is the largest smartphone market by volume, bringing Apple Intelligence to the region is extremely important for the company, meaning that China will likely look to fast-track a deal with ByteDance.

News Source: Daily Economic News