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Additionally, The Information claims ByteDance is partnering with Chinese startup InnoStar Semiconductor for memory technology related to the project, potentially obviating the need to acquire rare and expensive HBM chips from Samsung and the like. The Chinese startup got investments from ByteDance and Alibaba, China's cloud and e-commerce giant.
However, ByteDance doesn't appear to have its own chip design teams, and will purportedly rely on "several external partners", who are expected to also take care of the actual silicon manufacturing. The firm's CPU project takes place against a geopolitical tussle that got China's government banning the purchase of Nvidia H200 Blackwell chips, after the Trump administration backtracked on its technological export controls.
China's ByteDance to access 36,000 Blackwell GPU cluster through Malaysia cloud operator
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This is hardly ByteDance's first rodeo with investing in its own technology, too, as it started designing its own SeedChip AI accelerator with TSMC back in 2024, a silicon slab expected to tape out and be mass-produced this year still. For now, the expectation is that ByteDance will use hybrid architectures for its servers as dependence on Nvidia is still an unfortunate necessity, but over time, it wouldn't be surprising to see the firm waving goodbye to the back of Jensen Huang's leather jacket.
Furthermore, much like any other advanced chip vendor these days, Intel and AMD reportedly keep increasing prices every quarter as they hold the lion's share of the CPU market. Nvidia's recently unveiled Vera chips show great promise, but once again, we're talking about a U.S. firm. Although Bytedance is best known for TikTok, the world's leading short-form video app, the company runs China's AI chatbot app Doubao and has a handful of AI models under its belt.
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Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/tiktok-owner-bytedance-is-reportedly-developing-its-own-custom-ai-cpus-company-looks-to-ease-chinas-dependence-on-us-chipmakers#main
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