TikTok Fueling AI Expansion: ByteDance Eyes 50,000 Chips From Iluvatar CoreX

ByteDance , the Chinese technology giant behind TikTok and the Doubao chatbot , is in advanced talks to purchase at least 50,000 AI inference chips from Shanghai based Iluvatar CoreX . The GPUs, or Graphics Processing Units , are expected to ship this year and are primarily used for running large scale AI systems by processing many calculations in parallel. In this case, they would mainly power Doubao’s user base of hundreds of millions, with inference workloads , answering queries rather than training models, forming the bulk of the order. The deal remains unfinalised.

Should it go through, Iluvatar CoreX would become ByteDance’s third major domestic chip supplier, joining Huawei and Cambricon , as Beijing’s tech champions accelerate their pivot away from Nvidia amid tightening US export controls. ByteDance is simultaneously exploring a parallel arrangement with Baidu’s Kunlunxin division, which already counts Tencent among its clients.

The talks mark a significant commercial breakthrough for Iluvatar CoreX, which until now has largely served government procurement contracts. Founded in 2015 on 7nm class process technology , the firm’s Tiangai series targets AI training and rivals Nvidia A100 and A800, while its Zhikai inference chips average around $1,775 per unit . The company listed in Hong Kong in January, raising roughly $450 million in an IPO oversubscribed over 400 times , and reported 2025 revenue of 1 billion yuan (about $148 million), nearly 90 per cent from GPU sales, though it remains loss making. Huatai Securities projects revenue could nearly triple to 3 billion yuan this year as shipments surge past 100,000 units . Shares jumped 12 per cent in Hong Kong following the news.

The development underscores a broader shift: Chinese chipmakers captured nearly 41 per cent of the domestic AI accelerator server market last year, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledging the company’s China market share has fallen to zero. Tencent chief strategy officer James Mitchell said in May that Chinese made AI chips would become available in large quantities in the second half of 2026.

ByteDance, previously the largest buyer of Nvidia H20 chips and a major purchaser of Huawei Ascend 910B processors, is also developing its own AI chip in talks with Samsung over manufacturing, targeting production of up to 350,000 units this year .