ByteDance is negotiating to purchase a minimum of 50,000 AI inference GPUs from Shanghai-based Iluvatar CoreX, a move that underscores just how aggressively Chinese tech giants are building their own chip ecosystems outside of Nvidia’s reach.
What ByteDance is actually doing
Beyond the Iluvatar CoreX negotiations, ByteDance is also exploring similar contracts with Baidu’s Kunlunxin AI chips. The strategy is straightforward: diversify supply lines across multiple domestic vendors rather than depend on a single source that could be cut off by geopolitical whim.
Iluvatar CoreX, founded in 2015, specializes in developing general-purpose GPUs built on 7nm-class process technology. The company’s flagship TianGai-100 series is designed to compete directly with Nvidia’s A100 and A800 chips in AI training and inference workloads.
ByteDance has also been developing its own custom AI silicon and was reportedly in talks with Samsung as recently as February 2026 about potential manufacturing partnerships. That’s three parallel tracks: buy from Iluvatar, buy from Baidu’s chip unit, and build your own.
