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ByteDance Shifts Chip Design Staff to Singapore Unit Amid U.S.-China Tensions

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Chip designers at ByteDance, many based in Beijing and Shanghai, were surprised last week to learn they are officially reporting into a Singapore unit, according to three people familiar with the matter. The change became clear when staff were reassigned into a new group on the company’s internal messaging system.

Analysts suggest the restructuring could help ByteDance navigate U.S.-China trade restrictions on semiconductor access. Since late 2023, U.S. rules have barred mainland Chinese firms from using Taiwan’s TSMC to manufacture advanced AI chips above certain performance thresholds. Shifting oversight to Singapore may allow ByteDance more flexibility in securing partnerships and production.

ByteDance, best known globally for TikTok, has been expanding into proprietary chip design since 2022, developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to reduce reliance on suppliers like Nvidia. The company has worked with Broadcom on AI processors intended for TSMC fabrication, though it does not currently outsource manufacturing to the Taiwanese firm.

The Singapore entity may be linked to Picoheart, a ByteDance subsidiary registered in December 2023. Picoheart drew notice last year when it acquired a 9.5% stake in Chinese memory chipmaker Innostar. Singapore also hosts TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew and some of ByteDance’s largest data centers.

So far, ByteDance’s chips are limited to inference tasks, such as video decoding and networking, rather than the more computationally intensive AI training workloads where rivals like Alibaba and Baidu have advanced further. Job postings indicate ByteDance is still hiring for its AI chip team as it tries to catch up in the strategic semiconductor race.

OpenAI to Debut First AI Chip in 2026 With Broadcom Partnership

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OpenAI will launch its first in-house artificial intelligence chip in 2026 through a partnership with U.S. semiconductor leader Broadcom (AVGO.O), according to the Financial Times. The chip will be used internally to power OpenAI’s own AI systems rather than being sold to external customers, people familiar with the matter said.

The move reflects OpenAI’s push to diversify away from Nvidia, whose GPUs currently dominate AI computing, and to lower infrastructure costs amid surging demand for training and running large-scale AI models like ChatGPT. OpenAI has previously collaborated with Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) on design and fabrication, while also supplementing with AMD and Nvidia chips.

Reuters earlier reported that OpenAI was finalizing the design of its first custom silicon, to be manufactured at TSMC, with a focus on reducing reliance on outside suppliers. By developing its own chip, OpenAI joins rivals Google, Amazon, and Meta, which have already rolled out proprietary processors to handle escalating AI workloads.

The timing of the news coincides with Broadcom CEO Hock Tan’s announcement on Thursday that the company had secured over $10 billion in AI infrastructure orders from a new unnamed customer, set to drive significant revenue growth in fiscal 2026. Industry watchers say OpenAI could be that customer, given its scale and need for dedicated compute.

If successful, the partnership would not only help OpenAI gain greater control over its AI infrastructure but also cement Broadcom’s position as a leading custom silicon provider in the generative AI era.

Broadcom Projects Strong AI Growth for Fiscal 2026 With $10B Customer Win

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Broadcom (AVGO.O) forecast a sharp improvement in artificial intelligence revenue for fiscal 2026 after securing more than $10 billion in AI infrastructure orders from a newly signed customer, CEO Hock Tan announced Thursday. The news boosted shares by 4% in after-hours trading, as investors cheered both the order and Tan’s commitment to remain at the helm for at least another five years.

Earlier this year, Tan hinted at four potential new partners exploring custom chip development with Broadcom. One has now placed a firm order, officially joining its roster of clients. While Broadcom did not disclose the name, analysts see the deal as another sign of cloud giants seeking alternatives to Nvidia’s dominant but costly GPUs.

Broadcom has positioned itself as a key enabler of generative AI, designing custom silicon to help hyperscalers overcome performance bottlenecks. “Custom offerings for cloud giants are well-positioned as Big Tech races to push model training and inference forward,” said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne, noting that while Nvidia remains the default choice, bespoke chips offer niche performance advantages.

The company’s AI revenue grew 63% to $5.2 billion in the third quarter ended August 3 and is projected to rise to $6.2 billion in Q4. Broadcom has also expanded its portfolio with new networking products, including the Tomahawk Ultra and next-generation Jericho chips, both aimed at accelerating AI computing workloads.

Despite booming AI demand, Tan acknowledged softness in the company’s non-AI semiconductor units, particularly in enterprise networking and service storage. Even so, Broadcom guided for fourth-quarter revenue of about $17.4 billion, above Wall Street’s estimate of $17.01 billion.

Broadcom shares have gained nearly 82% since April, extending a threefold surge over the past two years, while Nvidia stock is up 27% in 2025.