ByteDance Eyes Local AI Chips Amidst Chip Wars

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is currently engaged in discussions to procure artificial intelligence chips from Shanghai-based Iluvatar CoreX for its inference workloads. This potential agreement would establish Iluvatar CoreX as ByteDance's third primary domestic supplier of graphics processing units (GPUs), following Huawei and Cambricon. ByteDance is also exploring a similar arrangement with Baidu for its Kunlunxin chips.

These negotiations underscore China's intensifying efforts to foster self-reliance in domestically developed chips. This initiative is particularly significant given the ongoing U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductor technology. Chinese AI chip manufacturers have notably increased their presence in the market, capturing a substantial share of China's AI accelerator server market and diminishing Nvidia's previous dominance.

For Iluvatar CoreX, securing a deal with a major tech entity like ByteDance represents a critical commercial achievement. The company, which listed in Hong Kong earlier in the year, has primarily supplied government procurement projects. Iluvatar's revenue for 2025 was reported at 1 billion yuan, with approximately 90% derived from GPU sales, reflecting the strong demand for local AI hardware. Projections indicate a significant increase in shipments for the current year, with a substantial portion dedicated to inference chips.