ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is reportedly planning to develop a new artificial intelligence (AI) model primarily utilizing chips from Huawei Technologies, according to three sources familiar with the situation. This shift comes as U.S. export restrictions on advanced AI chips, particularly from Nvidia, push the Chinese tech giant to seek domestic alternatives.
With AI becoming a focal point across the tech industry—impacting everything from gaming to e-commerce—ByteDance has turned to local chip suppliers and accelerated its own chip development. The company is set to use Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip for training a large-language AI model, the sources revealed, though the details remain confidential.
Currently, ByteDance employs the Ascend 910B primarily for less computationally intensive inference tasks, which involve making predictions with pre-trained AI models. However, training new AI models demands significantly more computational power and data, which is typically provided by high-performance chips like Nvidia’s top-tier graphics processing units.
While ByteDance’s new model may not match the capabilities of its existing AI system, Doubao, it marks a significant step in its AI strategy. ByteDance did not respond to requests for comment, but a TikTok spokesperson denied the development of a new model, claiming that “the entire premise here is wrong.”
Huawei also did not respond to inquiries from Reuters.
Supply Chain Challenges
Despite placing orders for over 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this year, ByteDance has received fewer than 30,000 as of July, creating a supply shortfall. This constrained supply and the relatively lower computing power compared to Nvidia’s chips available in China have hindered ByteDance from establishing a timeline for the rollout of its new model.
The company’s existing AI technology, rebranded as the Doubao chatbot, launched in August 2023, has already gained significant traction with over 10 million monthly active users. In recent months, ByteDance has introduced new video-focused models to compete with offerings from OpenAI.
As demand for AI capabilities rises, ByteDance has become one of Huawei’s largest AI chip customers. The company is also a significant buyer of Nvidia’s H20 AI chip, tailored for the Chinese market, and holds the position of Microsoft’s biggest client in Asia for Nvidia’s cloud-computing chips.
Last year, ByteDance reportedly allocated $2 billion for Nvidia chips, underscoring its commitment to advancing its AI technologies despite ongoing supply chain challenges.
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