TikTok operator earmarks billions for investment in Singapore

TikTok owner ByteDance will invest billions of dollars in Singapore while recruiting hundreds of employees and stepping up the installation of servers in the Southeast Asian country to back up US data.

There are contradicting reports about whether ByteDance was planning to make Singapore its Asian headquarters as part of its global expansion plans and set up a data center there.

ByteDance decided last year to locate its regional headquarters in Singapore, which in recent years has intensified efforts to attract investors and tech firms.

Siemens, PayPal, Twitter, and Zoom had said that they were investing in Singapore this year, says Kiren Kumar, Singapore Economic Development Board executive vice president.

Analysts say Singapore is becoming more attractive for firms seeking a neutral location as tensions rise between the US and China.

President Donald Trump is forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok’s assets in the US assets to avoid a ban there, citing potential national security risk due to the amount of data being compiled from American consumers.