In response to US sanctions against China, ByteDance is reportedly considering using chips manufactured by Huawei for artificial intelligence (AI) training instead of NVIDIA.
According to multiple sources cited by Reuters, ByteDance is looking to utilize Huawei chips to train and develop AI models. It was also mentioned that the corporation, which owns the TikTok network, is working on a new AI model.
Previously, ByteDance’s AI projects utilized NVIDIA’s H20 chip, specifically designed for the Chinese market to circumvent trade restrictions imposed by the US government in 2022. As a result of these restrictions, Chinese customers are only permitted to purchase certain AI chip models, a measure viewed as an attempt to impede China’s technological advancement. However, Chinese companies were advised against procuring H20 chips.
In recent months, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued guidelines encouraging businesses to rely more on domestic companies like Huawei and Cambricon.
ByteDance has reportedly received 30,000 Ascend 910B chips from Huawei and has placed orders for up to 100,000 chips this year. The Ascend 910B is claimed to outperform NVIDIA’s A100 chip in terms of GPU performance and computing power. However, a chip shortage has led to a delay in ByteDance’s AI model development project.
Several other Chinese companies are also gradually transitioning to using chips developed by domestic manufacturers. While ByteDance has previously exploited vulnerabilities to acquire NVIDIA AI chips, this recent shift indicates China’s efforts to lessen its reliance on Western products.