ByteDance to set up innovation center in SW China

CHENGDU -- ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, will set up an innovation center in the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Southwest China's Sichuan province, local authorities said.

The center, with an investment of 10 billion yuan (about $1.45 billion), will integrate several emerging businesses, including an intelligent education system and interactive multimedia office system, and plans to recruit 10,000 staff within five years. It is expected to generate an annual sales revenue of 10 billion yuan.

Since the company entered the provincial capital Chengdu in 2015, business teams of research and development, commercialization and creative space have been set up in the city, whereby Chengdu has become a significant base for the company's strategic layout in western China, sources with ByteDance said.

ByteDance owns several products including TikTok, news portal Toutiao and the video-sharing platform Xigua. To date, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has seen the number of its daily active users exceed 400 million, the company said.

So far, the Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has become home to more than 90,000 enterprises related to the new economy, including businesses of some leading internet companies such as Tencent, NetEase and the online streaming platform iQiyi.