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BDNCE, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, is partnering with Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGOThe company is developing advanced artificial intelligence chips, two sources told Reuters, aiming to ensure a stable supply of high-end chips and reduce procurement costs amid U.S.-China trade tensions.
manufacturing The 5nm wafer is a specialized integrated circuit that complies with U.S. export restrictions and will be outsourced to TSMC (TSM).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) does not expect to start producing new chips this year that it is still designing. Tape-out, the final stage of the wafer design process before manufacturing, has not yet begun.
While the two companies have not yet confirmed the partnership, it would be the first between a Chinese company and a U.S. company involving 5 nanometer or more advanced chip manufacturing technology since Washington imposed restrictions on chip exports over national security concerns.
Due to restrictions, Chinese companies have limited supplies of high-end U.S. chips compared with international peers at a time when more and more companies are flocking to generative artificial intelligence.
A stable supply of AI chips is crucial to ByteDance (BDNCE), which has many popular applications, including the ChatGPT-like AI chatbot Doubao.
Another source told Reuters the company stockpiled Nvidia’s advanced chips before U.S. restrictions took effect and earmarked $2 billion to buy them last year. ByteDance (BDNCE) also purchased Huawei’s Ascend 910B chip in 2023.
