ByteDance Is Reportedly Hatching Plans to Develop AI Chips

As if expulsion from the world’s fifth-biggest economy—and near-banishment from the largest—wasn’t enough of a business challenge, ByteDance has decided it’d like to add semiconductor R&D to its plate.

The TikTok parent company has opened dozens of chip-related job postings, Reuters reported yesterday. A source told the publication that ByteDance hopes to develop Arm-based data center chips, but that its plan is still in the early days.

Why?

1. Should ByteDance get the Huawei treatment, it wants to have a contingency plan.
2. This is an AI-first company at the end of the day. Specialized AI processing units have become a key priority for the R&D departments of most Big Tech companies.
3. That’s especially true for Chinese tech companies. The country is still highly reliant on importing semiconductors, although Beijing is spending heavily to establish end-to-end technological self-sufficiency.
4. ByteDance has tried its hand with hardware before.

+ While we’re here: Starting April 15, TikTok users won’t be able to opt out of personalized ad targeting (unless they’re based in the EU).