The TikTok parent will buy millions of Qualcomm application-specific chips for AI data centres and use Qualcomm to take its own design from blueprint to production.
Qualcomm has struck a deal to supply ByteDance with millions of application-specific integrated circuits, the chip designer’s most prominent commitment yet to compete in the AI data-centre market it has spent the past two years trying to enter, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, will use the Qualcomm ASICs to underpin its AI-agent software, the people familiar with the agreement said. Qualcomm’s shares closed up around 5% on the news, with intraday gains touching above 8%.
The agreement has two distinct components. The first is a straight ASIC-supply arrangement, with ByteDance committing to volumes large enough to make it Qualcomm’s earliest publicly named major buyer of AI-focused chips.
The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!The second, equally important, is a chip-manufacturing-services layer: Qualcomm will help ByteDance bring an internally designed semiconductor that the Chinese firm has already completed to volume production. ByteDance has, in effect, hired Qualcomm as both vendor and manufacturing partner.
