TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is collaborating with American chip designer Broadcom to develop an advanced AI processor. The collaboration aims to enable ByteDance to secure high-quality chip supplies.
ByteDance and Broadcom’s 5nm AI chip initiative
ByteDance and Broadcom are collaborating to develop a 5nm Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The new chip will comply with US export control regulations and will be manufactured by TSMC. Following Washington’s 2022 advanced chip export controls, there have been no public announcements between Chinese and American companies on the development of such advanced chips.
ByteDance’s current collaboration with Broadcom could help lower purchasing costs and ensure a stable supply of high-quality chips, according to Reuters’ sources. However, TSMC will not start production of this new chip this year. According to the news, although both companies have started the design process, they have not yet reached the tape-out stage, which indicates that the design is completed and ready for production.
It is critical for ByteDance to provide a reliable source of AI chips for its algorithms. Besides TikTok, the company also operates popular apps such as Doubao. This app offers an AI chat service similar to ChatGPT. ByteDance’s NVIDIA chips before first round of US sanctionsIncluding A100, H100, A800 and H800) is stated to be largely stockpiled. In 2023, ByteDance allocated $ 2 billion for NVIDIA chips.
$14.6 billion artificial intelligence chip complex from SK Hynix
SK Hynix will build a multibillion-dollar memory chip complex in South Korea to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence chips.
In response to US sanctions, some Chinese AI chip makers have decided to downgrade their own designed processors to avoid being cut off from TSMC’s foundry services. MetaX and Enflame reportedly delivered reduced chip design schematics to TSMC late last year. These two leading Chinese AI chip manufacturers have claimed that their chips can compete with NVIDIA’s graphics cards in terms of performance.
The collaboration between ByteDance and Broadcom is an important step that will help ByteDance further advance in artificial intelligence technologies. Ensuring a stable supply of high-quality AI chips will increase ByteDance’s competitiveness and allow them to develop more advanced AI applications.