ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok, has quietly shifted its chip design team in Beijing and Shanghai to a Singapore-based subsidiary. The move, discovered by employees through an internal messaging platform update, is believed to be a strategic maneuver aimed at circumventing US restrictions on access to advanced semiconductor technology. The relocation places these crucial employees under a jurisdiction less directly impacted by the escalating technological tensions between the US and China.
The US government has implemented regulations since late 2023 that prevent mainland China-based companies from using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading chip manufacturer, for producing advanced AI chips that exceed specific performance levels. This shift to Singapore offers ByteDance a potential pathway to continue developing and manufacturing its chips without directly violating these regulations, although the exact nature of the Singaporean entity involved remains undisclosed.
ByteDance, like many global tech firms, is investing heavily in developing its own application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to reduce reliance on external suppliers such as Nvidia. Although ByteDance is not currently outsourcing chip manufacturing to TSMC, its past collaborations suggest a strategic interest in accessing advanced manufacturing capabilities. The company’s recent acquisition of a stake in Chinese memory chip maker Innostar, along with the existence of its Singapore-registered entity, Picoheart, further highlights its commitment to semiconductor development.
The company’s current chip portfolio, while less advanced than those of competitors like Alibaba and Baidu, includes video decoding and networking chips, with a dedicated team focused on AI applications. Recent job postings confirm continued recruitment efforts within this sector. Despite this progress, ByteDance’s chips are currently limited to less computationally intensive inference tasks, leaving room for significant future growth and development within the company’s chip design capabilities. ByteDance has yet to respond to requests for comment on the restructuring.
