TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is collaborating with American chip designer Broadcom to develop an advanced artificial intelligence processor. The collaboration aims to enable ByteDance to secure a supply of high-quality chips.
ByteDance and Broadcom’s 5nm AI chip initiative
ByteDance and Broadcom are collaborating to develop a 5nm Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). This new chip will comply with US export control regulations and will be manufactured by TSMC. Following Washington’s advanced chip export controls in 2022, there have been no public announcements about the development of such advanced chips between Chinese and American companies.
According to Reuters’ sources, ByteDance’s existing cooperation with Broadcom could help lower procurement costs and ensure a steady supply of high-quality chips. However, TSMC will not start production of this new chip this year. According to the report, although both companies have started the design process, they have not yet reached the tape-out stage, which indicates that the design is complete and ready for production.
ByteDance’s ability to provide a reliable source for AI chips is critical for its algorithms. Besides TikTok, the company also operates popular apps like Doubao. This app offers an AI chat service similar to ChatGPT. ByteDance reportedly heavily stockpiled NVIDIA chips (including A100, H100, A800 and H800) before the first round of US sanctions. In 2023, ByteDance set aside $2 billion for NVIDIA chips.
Intel unveils its latest Xeon 6 processor at Computex, targeting the AI sector. A challenger for Nvidia and AMD in the expanding AI industry.
In response to US sanctions, some Chinese AI chipmakers have decided to downgrade their self-designed processors to avoid being deprived of TSMC’s foundry services. MetaX and Enflame reportedly delivered downgraded chip design schematics to TSMC late last year. These two leading Chinese AI chipmakers had claimed that their chips could compete with NVIDIA’s graphics cards in terms of performance.
ByteDance and Broadcom’s collaboration is an important step to help ByteDance further advance in AI technologies. Ensuring a stable supply of high-quality AI chips will enhance ByteDance’s competitiveness and allow them to develop more advanced AI applications.
