ByteDance Steps Up AI Chip Efforts

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is accelerating efforts to make its own artificial intelligence chips as it looks for an edge over its rivals in China’s AI chatbot market.

ByteDance is aiming for mass production of two semiconductors it has designed by 2026, in collaboration with chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Production of the chips could reduce ByteDance’s dependence on costly Nvidia chips for developing and operating AI models, the people said.