According to Reuters, ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, is set to develop a new AI model using chips from Huawei, as revealed by three anonymous sources. Despite a fourth source unable to confirm the exact chip source, news of a new AI model in progress was disclosed. ByteDance’s previous AI projects utilized NVIDIA’s H20 AI chips to navigate US trade restrictions imposed in 2022, limiting Chinese customers to specific AI chip models. ByteDance had placed an order of 100,000 Ascend 910B chips from Huawei but only received 30,000 due to a chip shortage. These Huawei chips are praised for their superior GPU performance and computing power efficiency compared to NVIDIA’s A100 chips. ByteDance has not officially confirmed this shift away from NVIDIA, joining other Chinese companies’ transition towards domestic chip alternatives. This move illustrates China’s efforts to lessen reliance on Western products, with ByteDance’s adaptation symbolizing a larger trend in the Chinese tech industry.
