ByteDance in talks to buy AI chips from Chinese startup

ByteDance is in talks with Shanghai-based AI chip company Iluvatar CoreX to buy AI inference chips for its growing AI apps like Doubao. If the deal goes through, Iluvatar CoreX will become ByteDance's third major domestic GPU supplier, following Huawei and Cambricon.

Sources say ByteDance is also considering chips from Baidu's Kunlunxin. Iluvatar CoreX is expected to supply at least 50,000 chips to ByteDance this year, mostly for AI tasks. For the startup, landing a big client like ByteDance would speed up its move from relying on government contracts.

Details are still being worked out and could change. ByteDance, Iluvatar CoreX, Baidu, and Tencent didn't respond to requests for comment.