ByteDance in talks to buy iLuvatar CoreX chips for Doubao
ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, is in talks with Shanghai-based Iluvatar CoreX to buy AI chips, hoping to power up its chatbot Doubao.
This move would help ByteDance rely less on foreign tech and fits China's push to support homegrown chipmakers, especially with US restrictions making imports tougher.
Iluvatar CoreX could ship 50,000 chips
If the deal goes through, Iluvatar CoreX could join other big Chinese chip suppliers like Huawei and Cambricon for ByteDance.
The company is expected to ship at least 50,000 chips to ByteDance this year, big news for a firm that mostly worked on government projects until now.
Chinese GPU and AI chipmakers captured nearly 41% of China's AI accelerator server market last year, they are starting to challenge global giants like NVIDIA as China aims for more tech independence.