Chinese technology firm ByteDance is working with U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) to develop an advanced artificial intelligence processor, Reuters reported on Monday.
The move is intended to help the TikTok owner secure a steady supply of AI chips, especially in the face of strict U.S. restrictions on chip exports to China, the report said.
The 5 nanometre chip will be compliant with U.S. export curbs and is likely to be outsourced for manufacturing to TSMC (NYSE:TSM), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker.
Bytedance and Broadcom already have partnerships in place, with the TikTok owner having purchased several AI-linked chips from the firm over at least the past two years.
A deepening of their partnership represents more efforts by Chinese technology firms to secure the supply of advanced AI chips, after the U.S. blocked several major chipmakers, most notably NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), from selling their most advanced AI technology to China.
While Nvidia is still allowed to sell less advanced AI chips in China, the offerings have so far been met with a largely lukewarm response, especially when compared to offerings from local competitors such as Huawei.
This follows a broad push into generative AI over the past year, sparked by applications such as OpenAI’s Chat GPT. Bytedance is also reportedly working on its own genAI platform.
AI has served as a major source of demand for global chipmaking firms. Broadcom had earlier this year hiked its annual earnings forecast on the prospect of improved AI-fuelled demand.
