ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok and short-video app Douyin, is in talks to source artificial intelligence chips from two domestic suppliers — Iluvatar CoreX and Baidu's Kunlunxin unit — according to Digitimes.
The discussions are being driven by surging demand for Doubao, ByteDance's AI assistant product that has rapidly gained users in China. As Doubao scales, so does its need for the specialized processors that power AI inference and training workloads.
Both Iluvatar and Kunlunxin are part of a wave of Chinese chip designers that have emerged as domestic alternatives to Nvidia, whose most advanced semiconductors are now restricted from export to China under U.S. trade rules. ByteDance sourcing from these companies would mark a significant vote of confidence in homegrown AI silicon at a time when the Chinese tech industry is under pressure to reduce its dependence on American hardware.
The move also signals how seriously ByteDance is investing in Doubao's infrastructure. AI chatbots and assistants require enormous amounts of continuous compute — every conversation, every generated image, every search query runs on chips in a data center somewhere.
If the talks result in large procurement deals, it could meaningfully boost the commercial viability of China's domestic chip industry, which has long struggled to compete with Nvidia on performance but is finding opportunity in a market where American alternatives are increasingly off-limits.