TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is shifting its AI chip sourcing to domestic supplier Huawei Technologies, as U.S. export restrictions push the Chinese tech giant to seek alternatives for advanced hardware.
ByteDance plans to develop a new AI model using Huawei’s Ascend 910B chips, Reuters reported.
The move comes after the U.S. began restricting the export of high-end AI chips in 2022, including those from leading suppliers like Nvidia. In response, ByteDance has accelerated the development of its own AI models and diversified its chip sourcing, turning to domestic options to meet its growing needs.
AI has become critical across various industries, including gaming and e-commerce, with companies racing to integrate custom AI models into their offerings. ByteDance’s plan to use Huawei chips for training a large-language AI model is part of its broader push into the AI space. However, this model is expected to be less powerful than ByteDance’s current AI model, Doubao, according to one source.
ByteDance has already been using Huawei’s Ascend 910B chips for less intensive AI tasks, such as inference, which involves making predictions with pre-trained models. However, training AI models, which requires vast amounts of data and processing power, typically depends on more advanced chips like Nvidia’s top-tier graphics processing units.
Despite ByteDance’s ambitions, supply issues have slowed the process. ByteDance has ordered over 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this year but received fewer than 30,000 as of July, hampering its ability to set a clear timeline for the new AI model. Two sources indicated that the limited availability and performance of these chips, compared to Nvidia’s, pose challenges.
ByteDance’s growing focus on AI has made it one of the largest buyers of Huawei’s AI chips and Nvidia’s H20 chip, a model tailored for the Chinese market amid U.S. trade restrictions. ByteDance also remains a key customer of Nvidia’s cloud-based AI offerings, making it Microsoft’s largest client for Nvidia chips in Asia.
The demand for AI applications at ByteDance continues to grow, with its AI-powered chatbot Doubao becoming one of China’s most popular apps, boasting over 10 million monthly active users since its launch in August 2023. ByteDance also introduced two new video-focused Doubao models this month, positioning itself in competition with OpenAI.
