Exclusive-ByteDance plans new AI model trained with Huawei chips, sources say By Reuters

(Reuters) – ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, plans to develop an artificial intelligence model trained mainly with chips from compatriot Huawei Technologies, three people familiar with the matter said, as U.S. restrictions push the social media giant back into the hunt of chips.

ByteDance has diversified into domestic suppliers of chips used in artificial intelligence and accelerated its own development as the U.S. in 2022 began restricting exports of advanced AI chips from the likes of market leader Nvidia ( NASDAQ: ).

Artificial intelligence has become central to the tech industry, with firms in sectors as varied as gaming and e-commerce differentiating their offerings by integrating custom AI models – programs that use pattern recognition to make decisions.

ByteDance’s next step in the AI ​​race is to use the Huawei Ascend 910B chip to train a large-language AI model, the people said, declining to be identified because the plan is confidential.

A fourth person also said ByteDance was planning a new AI model, but could not say whether it would use Huawei chips.

ByteDance already uses the Ascend 910B primarily for less computationally intensive inference tasks involving trained AI models making predictions, the three people and a separate source said.

Training AI models is much more demanding and requires huge amounts of data, requiring the use of ultra-high performance chips such as Nvidia’s premium graphics processing units.

The capacity and complexity of the new model, as measured by its computing parameters, will be less powerful than ByteDance Doubao’s existing AI model, one of the people said.

ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment. Michael Hughes, a TikTok spokesman in Washington DC, said, speaking on behalf of ByteDance, “The whole premise here is wrong. No new model is being developed.”

Huawei did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Tight Supply

ByteDance ordered more than 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this year, but received fewer than 30,000 in July, too slow to meet the company’s needs, one of the people said.

Limited sourcing and limited computing power compared to Nvidia chips available in China prevented ByteDance from setting a timeline for the new model, two of the people said.

ByteDance’s current AI technology is used in its flagship large-language model, launched in August 2023 and renamed the Doubao chatbot, and in many other applications, including a text-to-video transposition tool Jimeng. It introduced two video-focused Doubao models this month to compete with OpenAI.

The use of such apps has grown since the beginning of this year, with ByteDance’s chatbot becoming one of the most popular apps in China, with more than 10 million monthly active users.

The increased focus on AI has made ByteDance one of the biggest buyers of Huawei’s AI chips, the three people said.

It is also the biggest buyer of Nvidia’s H20 AI chip, which the US chipmaker adapted for the Chinese market in response to trade restrictions, two of the people said. The TikTok owner is also Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: ) largest customer in Asia for Nvidia chips accessible through cloud computing, two separate sources said.

Reuters previously reported that ByteDance committed $2 billion to Nvidia chips last year.

Nvidia declined to comment. Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.