China’s ByteDance is working with U.S. chip designer Broadcom to develop an advanced artificial intelligence processor, two sources familiar with the matter said, which would help the TikTok owner secure a sufficient supply of high-end chips. range in a context of tensions between the United States and China.
The 5-nanometer chip – a custom product known as an application-specific integrated chip (ASIC) – would comply with US export restrictions and the manufacturing work would be handed over to Taiwanese company TSMC, the officials added. sources.
Since Washington introduced export controls for cutting-edge semiconductors in 2022, no chip development collaborations between Chinese and U.S. companies involving 5nm or higher technology have been publicly announced. Agreements between the United States and China in this sector generally involve much less sophisticated technologies.
ByteDance’s combination with Broadcom, an existing business partner, would reduce procurement costs and ensure a stable supply of high-end chips, said the sources, who declined to be identified due to sensitivity. semiconductor issues in China.
However, TSMC is not expected to start manufacturing the new chip this year, they said. One said that while design work is well advanced, the “tapeout” – which marks the end of the design phase and the start of manufacturing – has not yet started.
Like many international technology companies, ByteDance has moved into generative artificial intelligence, but the company and its Chinese counterparts face a much more limited supply of AI chips than their foreign counterparts. .
Nvidia’s most advanced chips are out of reach due to U.S. export controls aimed at hampering the Chinese military’s breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and supercomputers. Competition for U.S. chips developed specifically for the Chinese market as well as those from rival Huawei, one of China’s few AI accelerator makers, is fierce.
ByteDance and Broadcom have been business partners since at least 2022. The Chinese company purchased the US company’s high-performance Tomahawk 5nm switch chip, as well as its Bailly switch for AI computer clusters, Broadcom said in public statements.
Securing AI chips is essential for ByteDance to make its algorithms more powerful. Besides TikTok and the Chinese version of the short video app called Douyin, ByteDance operates a series of popular apps, including a ChatGPT-like chatbot service called Doubao, which has 26 million users.
To support its AI effort, ByteDance has stockpiled Nvidia chips, according to a separate person briefed on the matter.
These include A100 and H100 chips that were available before the first round of US sanctions took effect, as well as A800 and H800 chips that Nvidia made for the Chinese market, but which were also subject to subsequent restrictions, this person said, adding that ByteDance allocated $2 billion to purchase Nvidia chips last year.
ByteDance also bought Ascend 910B chips from Huawei last year, two separate sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Bytedance currently has hundreds of semiconductor job openings, including 15 for ASIC chip designers, according to checks on its website.
It has also poached senior executives from other Chinese companies specializing in AI chips, according to one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
