TMTPOST — ByteDance is developing its proprietary CPUs to address surging artificial intelligence infrastructure demands, according to informed sources. The move comes as skyrocketing chip prices and persistent supply shortages increasingly constrain the company’s expansion plans. ByteDance is pursuing two parallel CPU architecture paths — one based on Arm and the other on the open-source RISC-V instruction set — to determine the optimal long-term design for its data centers. The self-developed chips are intended for deployment in the company’s own servers and data centers to support internal operations and power large-scale agentic AI products such as the Coze platform. This strategic shift highlights the industry’s broader transition toward the AI inference phase, which has driven substantial CPU demand in recent months. By reducing reliance on Intel and AMD, both of which have implemented significant price increases of 10% to 35% quarter-over-quarter, ByteDance aims to secure more stable and cost-effective computing resources for its rapidly scaling AI ambitions.