ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, is developing its own central processing units (CPUs) to support the growing demands of its AI infrastructure, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The move comes as rising chip costs and persistent supply shortages increasingly challenge the company’s expansion plans.

The project is still at an early stage. ByteDance plans to use the CPUs in its own servers and data centers for internal operations as it prepares a broader rollout of agent-based products, including Coze.

ByteDance is pursuing two CPU architecture tracks, one based on SoftBank-owned Arm and another on the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture.

The company has also approached external partners to help design the chips and secure foundry capacity.

The effort mirrors similar moves by Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Two sources also said prices for the CPUs ByteDance buys from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices rose 10% to 35% from the previous quarter in recent months.

🔗 Source: Reuters

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