Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese company ByteDance is working with U.S. chip designer Broadcom (NASDAQ:) to develop an advanced artificial intelligence processor, two sources familiar with the matter said. The move will help TikTok’s owner ensure sufficient supplies of high-performance chips in the US. -Tension in China.
The 5nm chip – a specialized product known as a special purpose integrated chip (ASIC) – will comply with US export restrictions, and manufacturing work will be outsourced to Taiwan’s TSMC, the sources added.
Since Washington imposed export controls on advanced semiconductors in 2022, there have been no public announcements of chip development cooperation between Chinese and American companies using 5nm or higher technologies. Deals between the US and China in this sector typically involve much less sophisticated technologies.
ByteDance’s collaboration with Broadcom, an existing business partner, will help reduce procurement costs and ensure a stable supply of high-performance chips, said the people, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of semiconductor issues in China.
However, TSMC is not expected to start production of the new chip this year, they said. One of them said that while design work is well underway, “recording,” which marks the end of the design phase and the start of production, has not yet begun.
ByteDance and Broadcom did not respond to repeated requests for comment. TSMC declined to comment.
Like many global tech companies, ByteDance has made major strides into generative AI, but the company and its Chinese peers have to deal with a much tighter supply of AI chips than their overseas counterparts.
Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:) most advanced chipsets are unavailable due to US export controls aimed at thwarting advances in artificial intelligence and supercomputing by the Chinese military. Competition for American chips designed specifically for the Chinese market, as well as those from rival Huawei, one of the few Chinese manufacturers of artificial intelligence accelerators, is fierce.
ByteDance and Broadcom have been business partners since at least 2022. The Chinese firm has acquired the US company’s high-performance 5nm Tomahawk switch chip as well as the Bailly switch for artificial intelligence computer clusters, Broadcom said in public statements.
Securing AI chips is critical for ByteDance to make its algorithms more powerful. Besides TikTok and the Chinese version of a short video app called Douyin, ByteDance operates a number of popular apps, including a chatbot service similar to ChatGPT called Doubao, which has 26 million users.
To support its advances in artificial intelligence, ByteDance has stockpiled Nvidia chips, according to a separate person briefed on the matter.
These include the A100 and H100 chips, which were available before the first round of US sanctions took effect, as well as the A800 and H800 chips that Nvidia produced for the Chinese market but which were later limited, the source said, adding that ByteDance has committed $2 billion for procurement Nvidia. last year’s chips.
ByteDance also acquired Ascend 910B chips from Huawei last year, two separate sources familiar with the matter said.
According to checks on Bytedance’s website, there are currently hundreds of semiconductor-related jobs posted, including 15 for ASIC chip designers.
The company is also poaching senior talent from other Chinese companies that make artificial intelligence chips, according to one of the people with direct knowledge of the matter.