ByteDance is aiming to complete the design of a new in-house central processing unit (CPU) by early next year at the latest, with plans for mass production and wider deployment in the second half of 2027, according to a South China Morning Post report citing people familiar with the matter.
The TikTok parent company is developing the chip to support its expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure as it seeks greater control over core computing hardware, the SCMP report said.
An early version of the proprietary CPU has reportedly already been used internally since late 2025, one of the sources told SCMP. However, due to strong demand for computing capacity, the tape-out stage, the final step in chip design before manufacturing, could be accelerated.
To support development and help secure foundry capacity, ByteDance is also collaborating with US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM, XETRA:QCI), according to the report.
Wedbush analysts said the report underscores growing pressure from compute shortages and rising costs, which they view as incentivising ByteDance to accelerate internal chip development efforts.
They noted that ByteDance is targeting mass production of the CPU in the second half of 2027 and may lean on Qualcomm for assistance, adding that this follows earlier reports linking the two companies on chip development.
“We certainly see the current shortage of compute (and rising pricing) as creating an incentive for ByteDance to accelerate internal efforts to build CPUs,” Wedbush wrote.
“At the same time, chip design doesn't alleviate the foundations of current supply shortfalls (fabs and raw materials) and successful design efforts to date have seemingly required multiple generations of parts, with failures at least equaling success stories,” the analysts added, according to SCMP’s cited commentary.