Byte is trending overseas again

Demonstrating global ambitions.

Written by: Wang Xiaojuan

Editor: Huang Yu

Source: Wallstreetcn

ByteDance’s global ambitions are becoming increasingly evident across more business sectors.

Against the backdrop of the AI application boom, over the past three months, an AI assistant app called Cici has consistently ranked in the top 20 of the free app download charts on Google Play in markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mexico, and the UK. Especially in Mexico, it held the top spot for daily downloads on Google Play for a whole week.

Chinese users may be unfamiliar with Cici, but its icon immediately brings to mind ByteDance’s hugely popular domestic AI app Doubao. The only difference is that Doubao’s icon features a short-haired female figure, while Cici’s is a long-haired female figure.

Although Cici and Doubao share a deep “blood relationship,” there are clear differences between the two in terms of functionality, technical architecture, and market positioning.

Functionally, Cici lacks the ability to generate music and video content, and users cannot directly share their creations on the platform. In other words, Cici is relatively weak in social features. This simplification makes Cici more like a lightweight AI tool focused on core needs, rather than a complex creative community.

In terms of technical architecture, Doubao mainly relies on ByteDance’s self-developed Doubao large model, while Cici adopts a more open technical route. Although the app leverages ByteDance’s image editing tool PicPic and programming assistant Coze, for its core text generation capability, Cici integrates advanced third-party technologies.

Currently, there is almost no “ByteDance” branding visible within the app, but according to market sources, ByteDance has confirmed itself as the controlling party of the application.

Moreover, in terms of marketing strategy, Cici employs a typical “ByteDance-style” approach. In Mexico, Cici ran over 400 ad campaigns in October, focusing on user pain points such as “completely free” and “can solve math problems.” This down-to-earth communication strategy lowered the barriers for users to understand and download the app.

At the same time, Cici fully leveraged ByteDance’s TikTok ecosystem advantages. On TikTok, Cici’s official account has accumulated about 123,000 followers. Many creators have also used hashtags like #ciciai to post a large number of sponsored content videos, demonstrating the app’s features in practice and triggering a chain reaction on social platforms, thereby driving traffic to Cici.

Data from market research firm Sensor Tower confirms the effectiveness of this strategy. Over the past three months, Cici’s downloads have remained high in markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mexico, and the UK.

Currently, Cici’s overseas breakthrough is just a microcosm of ByteDance’s global AI strategy. Looking at ByteDance’s AI layout, a clear path of comprehensive advancement emerges.

ByteDance has invested heavily in AI infrastructure. According to market sources, ByteDance plans to invest over $12 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025, mainly for building its own computing power centers and DPU chip R&D. This scale of investment provides a solid foundation for the global expansion of its AI applications.

In terms of model technology, ByteDance’s latest open-source Seed-OSS-36B model supports a native 512K context length and introduces an innovative “controllable thinking budget” mechanism, allowing users to flexibly adjust the model’s inference length and improve inference efficiency.

From a product matrix perspective, ByteDance’s AI product system is led by Doubao and already covers numerous scenarios. The Doubao family now includes more than ten specialized models, such as General Pro/Lite, role-playing, speech synthesis/recognition, text-to-image, and video generation.

Orient Securities analyst Wu Lihui pointed out that ByteDance’s ToC AI application layout is comprehensive, and the chatbot Doubao may be the largest AI Native application in China. ByteDance has launched products in various AI application verticals such as chatbot, education, image/video, and emotional companionship. Regionally, products are basically mirrored between overseas and domestic markets, and are deployed on both APP and Web ends. With comprehensive layout and traffic advantages, ByteDance’s AI products can quickly expand user coverage.

In addition, ByteDance AI also has a relatively high penetration rate on the enterprise side. In addition to underlying technology and software, ByteDance has also launched AI hardware products such as AI earphones. There have also been market rumors that it will launch an AI phone. Although ByteDance has denied the AI phone project, it also reveals ByteDance’s ambitions in AI hardware.

In summary, ByteDance AI has extended both in depth and breadth, presenting an all-round layout and forming a trend toward a strong open ecosystem. In terms of depth, it has a full-stack layout from underlying hardware to upper-layer applications; in terms of breadth, it not only creates super app traffic on the C-end, but also forms a dual-engine drive with B-end enterprise services.

Now, Cici’s success in overseas markets reflects the global capabilities ByteDance has already established. These capabilities are not limited to the product itself, but also encompass market insight, localized operations, and ecosystem building across multiple dimensions.

ByteDance demonstrates precise cross-cultural market insight. Cici makes differentiated adjustments for different markets, such as emphasizing math problem-solving abilities in Mexico, which is based on an accurate grasp of local educational needs. This capability stems from ByteDance’s years of experience operating global products like TikTok.

In addition, ByteDance has established an efficient global promotion system. Through TikTok influencer marketing and precise advertising, Cici can quickly raise its profile in specific markets within a short period of time.

From a market layout perspective, ByteDance adopts a “surround mature markets with emerging markets” strategy. It first establishes footholds in regions such as the UK, Mexico, and Southeast Asia, accumulating experience and a user base, rather than directly competing head-on with giants like OpenAI and Google in the US market. This open strategy may also become an important differentiating advantage for ByteDance in the global AI competition.

Looking to the future, ByteDance’s global ambitions are self-evident. ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo once made it clear: “In the future, ByteDance will firmly invest for the long term, pursue intelligent breakthroughs, and serve industrial applications.” This statement reveals ByteDance’s determination for long-term competition in the AI field.

From Doubao to Cici, ByteDance is restructuring its global market layout in the AI era. Clearly, ByteDance’s goal is not just to create a successful AI application, but to build the next globally influential product like TikTok on a worldwide scale.