Advertisement
ByteDance denies reported plan to make self-designed chips and cut reliance on Nvidia
The Chinese company rejected reports that it aims to engage the world’s largest chip foundry TSMC to mass-produce advanced semiconductors
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Coco Fengin Beijing
Chinese technology giant ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has denied reports that it plans to design and produce two types of semiconductors by 2026 to cut reliance on leading US chip designer Nvidia.
The Beijing-based company, which also operates TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin, said its initiatives in the field of semiconductors “are in the early stage, focusing on cost optimisation of recommendations, advertising and other businesses”, local media reported, citing a ByteDance statement written in Chinese.
ByteDance added that all of its chip projects are “in compliance with relevant trade control regulations”.
The response comes after US tech news site The Information reported on Monday that ByteDance was planning to engage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip foundry, to mass-produce two 5-nanometre semiconductors designed by the Chinese unicorn.
According to the report, those efforts are aimed at reducing ByteDance’s dependence on Nvidia to counter US export controls.
US trade sanctions have prevented Nvidia from exporting to China some of its most advanced graphics processing units, such as the A100 and H100, which are sought-after components for training artificial intelligence (AI) systems. To cater to Chinese clients, the US company has come up with workarounds such as the H20.
Advertisement