ByteDance, the Chinese multinational internet technology company that owns Tik Tok, is developing plans to manufacture semiconductors, a source close to the situation revealed to Reuters. The company also posted numerous job openings pertaining to chip production on its official website.
According to the source, ByteDance is looking to focus on the production of Arm-based server-side chips. While still in the early stages of planning, the company has posted about a dozen semiconductor job advertisements based in the Beijing and Shanghai area. In an article with Chinese business magazine Caijing, ByteDance revealed that it has already established a team dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence chips.
While China is already the world’s largest purchaser of semiconductors, its production volume lags behind that of the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The East Asian superpower’s purchasing abilities have also been hampered as of late, with the United States imposing sanctions on major Chinese corporations such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd from sourcing semiconductors.
As a result, Chinese companies such as ByteDance have recognized the need to explore the option of developing their own chips so as to lessen their dependence on foreign workers or external suppliers.
