Tiktok parent Bytedance joins race to build in-house AI chips
China’s Bytedance is stepping up its own silicon push with plans to produce at least 100,000 AI chips this year.
The move comes as tech giants scramble to cut their reliance on market leader Nvidia, and lock in scarce computing power.
The Tiktok creator is reportedly in talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture the processor, as global demand for advanced AI hardware continues to strain supply chains.
The chip, under the name of ‘Seedchip’, has been designed for AI inference tasks, the stage where large language models (LLMs) generate responses.
The Chinese tech company aims to receive sample units by the end of March, and is seeking to ramp production to as many as 350,000 chips over time, sources told Reuters.
Negotiations with Samsung are understood to include access to high-bandwidth memory, a key component that remains in exceptionally short supply amid the boom.
Bytedance has since claimed some information about its in-house chip project was inaccurate, without elaborating.
$22bn AI procurement drive
Bytedance’s move forms part of a wider AI investment plan, with the firm intending to spend over 160 yuan ($22bn) on AI procurement this year.
More than half of that sum has been pencilled in to buying chips from Nvidia, and advancing its own, in-house, chip development.
Like other tech players, Bytedance is seeking greater control over its own compute stack.
Elsewhere, US giants like Amazon and Google have also developed their own chips to reduce dependence on Nvidia, which still majorly dominates the market.
For Chinese firms, US export controls have added a sense of urgency, with rivals Alibaba and Baidu having already unveiled theirs.
Baidu is reportedly preparing to list its semiconductor arm Kunlunxin.
Internally, executives have framed AI investment as key to the group’s future across video and e-commerce.
Bytedance’s chip goals date back several years. The company having worked with US designer Broadcom on an advanced AI processor in the past, with manufacturing planned through TSMC.