Tencent, ByteDance outpace Meta, Google in NVIDIA AI GPU purchases
What's the story
In 2024, Chinese tech giants Tencent and ByteDance became major buyers of NVIDIA's high-end artificial intelligence (AI) GPUs.
According to a report by Omdia and an analysis by the Financial Times, the companies bought some 230,000 of NVIDIA's Hopper GPUs each.
The number also includes a specialized H20 version to comply with US export regulations for China.
Leading buyer
Microsoft leads in AI GPU acquisitions
Microsoft also became the largest buyer of NVIDIA's chips in 2024, purchasing a whopping 485,000 Hopper GPUs. This number is way ahead of what Tencent and ByteDance bought.
Despite US trade restrictions, the Chinese companies were able to outpace other tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon in their GPU purchases.
Market dominance
NVIDIA dominates AI server hardware market
In 2024, NVIDIA dominated the AI server hardware market, making up 43% of total spending.
The company's Hopper series continued to be the go-to option for many, even as AMD made some inroads with major orders from Microsoft and Meta.
Following Tencent and ByteDance in GPU acquisitions were Meta (224,000 units), Amazon (196,000 units), and Google (169,000 units).
In-house shift
US tech giants shift focus to in-house chip development
US tech giants are slowly pivoting toward building their own chips.
Google has deployed a whopping 1.5 million Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), while Meta has similarly used its MTIA chips.
Amazon is depending on its Trainium and Inferentia processors, and even Microsoft, a loyal NVIDIA customer, is testing its Maia chips with some 200,000 units installed so far.