ByteDance taps Huawei chips for AI models amid US curbs
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: China’s ByteDance plans to develop a new AI model using Huawei’s Ascend 910B chips amid US export restrictions on advanced AI chips from Nvidia, Reuters reported citing three sources.
The context: The TikTok parent has shifted to using domestic chip suppliers for artificial intelligence and sped up its own chip development since the US began restricting exports of advanced AI chips in 2022.
ByteDance currently uses the Ascend 910B for less demanding inference tasks, the publication said. One of the sources said the planned model would be less powerful than its existing Doubao AI.
ByteDance is one of the largest buyers of Huawei chips and also the biggest buyer of Nvidia’s China-available H20 AI chips, with its chatbot Doubao reaching over 10 million monthly users.
The numbers: Supply constraints have delayed the plans and prevented ByteDance from even setting a timeline for the new model, two of the sources told Reuters.
Fewer than 30,000 out of 100,000 Ascend 910B chips ordered this year had been received as of July, the publication said.
What they said: ByteDance denied a new model was being developed, while Huawei did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
“The entire premise here is wrong. No new model is being developed," ByteDance spokesman Michael Hughes told Reuters.
The source: Reuters
