The Chinese company, ByteDance, is collaborating with the American company, Broadcom, to develop an advanced artificial intelligence processor to ensure an adequate supply of sophisticated chips for TikTok amid tensions between China and the United States, according to Reuters.
The new chip has been manufactured using 5-nanometer technology in compliance with US laws. The two companies have partnered with the Taiwanese company, TSMC, in manufacturing the integrated chip for ASIC applications.
There has been no public collaboration in chip development between Chinese and American companies for technology exceeding 5 nanometers since the US government imposed restrictions on exporting advanced nanochip technologies in 2022.
Deals between US and Chinese companies in this sector generally revolve around low-level technology. The partnership between ByteDance and Broadcom is expected to reduce purchasing costs and ensure a stable supply of advanced technological chips.
According to Reuters, TSMC is unlikely to commence manufacturing the new chip this year as the design processes are still ongoing and the manufacturing phase has not yet begun.
ByteDance has started exploring the field of generative artificial intelligence, yet faces challenges in acquiring limited quantities of artificial intelligence chips.
Nvidia’s advanced chips are problematic for China due to US trade restrictions aimed at preventing advancements in Chinese military in the fields of artificial intelligence and supercomputing.
ByteDance and Broadcom have been collaborating since 2022, with Broadcom announcing that the Chinese company had acquired high-performance Tomahawk chips from ByteDance, in addition to the Bailly chip used in artificial intelligence computer clusters.
Securing artificial intelligence chips is vital for ByteDance as it enhances the capabilities of its algorithms.
ByteDance manages a collection of popular applications including TikTok, the Chinese short-video application Douyin, as well as a chat robot called Doubao with nearly 26 million users.
To enhance its efforts in artificial intelligence, ByteDance has acquired a set of Nvidia chips, including A100, H100, A800, and H800.
Last year, ByteDance allocated one billion dollars to purchase chips from Nvidia and also acquired Ascend 910B chips from Huawei.
ByteDance is currently facing a shortage of personnel in the semiconductor field, seeking to fill hundreds of vacancies, including 15 positions for ASIC chip designers. They are also looking to recruit employees from other companies in the artificial intelligence chip industry in China.
