TikTok parent company ByteDance is in talks with Samsung for the development of an AI chip, Reuters has reported.

According to the news outlet, the Chinese tech company is expecting to receive sample chips by the end of next month, with plans to produce 100,000 chips in 2026.

Sources cited in the report said the chip will be designed for AI inferencing workloads, with the company hoping to eventually produce 350,000 units. Negotiations between ByteDance and the Korean chipmaker include securing access to memory chip supplies, the report added, a necessity given the current supply chain constraints the industry is grappling with at present.

In response to a request for comment by Reuters, a spokesperson for ByteDance said the information about its in-house chip project was inaccurate. Samsung declined to comment.

Earlier this year, Samsung cautioned that memory chip shortages would likely persist into 2027, with consumer electronics likely to suffer the most in the face of ongoing shortages as capacity will increasingly become allocated to AI infrastructure projects.

Kim Jae-june, head of Samsung Electronics' memory business, told analysts on the company’s January earnings call that “while the expansion of supply in 2026 and 2027 is expected to be limited due to constrained cleanroom space within the industry, the supply shortage is anticipated to persist due to strong demand linked to AI.”

In an effort to address the shortages, Kim said that in anticipation of sustained strong AI demand, Samsung is planning to invest in new fab space to secure cleanroom capacity in advance and “maintain a proactive investment strategy going forward.”

In late January, the Chinese government reportedly granted ByteDance, along with Alibaba and Tencent, permission to purchase Nvidia H200 chips, with the three companies able to purchase more than 400,000 GPUs in total.