ByteDance launched its new Volcano Engine brand to offer the proprietary algorithm used to power TikTok’s personalized recommendations to more corporate clients. This is because the company seeks to expand beyond mainstay consumer products.
Algorithm is the secret behind TikTok’s global success. It was one of the focal points when China’s ByteDance was forced into talks to sell part of TikTok’s U.S operations last year on account of the executive order by the former President Donald Trump’s. China had revised its export restrictions so that it would have a say over the potential transfer of TikTok’s algorithm to foreign buyers. The current U.S. President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s order. He also ordered a new review of security concerns posed by the Chinese apps.
ByteDance said in a statement that Volcano Engine offers enterprise clients technologies such as recommendation algorithm, data analysis and artificial intelligence. It said that Volcano Engine is operating for a year. It has corporate clients such as e-commerce giant JD.com, smartphone maker Vivo and automaker Geely. There is a plan to add public cloud computing services, an already immensely competitive sector which is dominated by Big Techs in China such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei.
ByteDance declined to comment on this cloud service plan. It’s bulk of revenue comes from consumer-facing products such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and news gathering app Jinri Toutiao. Businesses are set to weaken as growth those businesses grow. ByteDance has been seeking to make inroads into new areas such as enterprise services. The company also operates a work-collaboration tool Lark and its Chinese version Feishu.
