Chinese tech groups place Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 orders as export curbs reshape AI chip market

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Chinese tech orders Nvidia RTX PRO 5500

Highlights

ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent ordered over 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 cards priced at about $11,400 each, exceeding $35 billion in value.
Nvidia warned Chinese partners they may receive only 5% to 10% of requested RTX PRO 5500 quantities, with global production capacity capped at 3 million units in 2027.
U.S. export controls on high-end AI chips are pushing Chinese buyers towards lower-powered Nvidia products, maintaining demand despite Nvidia's reduced data-centre market share in China.

Order surge tests Nvidia supply plans

As first reported by Reuters, ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have collectively ordered more than 3 million of Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 cards, according to people familiar with the matter. The chip is designed for high-performance workstations rather than large AI data-centre clusters, but it is among the most powerful Nvidia products still available to Chinese buyers under current U.S. export rules.

Two sources say Nvidia has told customers and partners it cannot guarantee it can fulfill the orders because demand from Chinese technology companies is running far above planned production. One source says partners may receive only 5% to 10% of the quantities requested, while another says Nvidia has indicated it can produce no more than 3 million RTX PRO 5500 cards globally in 2027.

The three companies' orders are for cards priced at about $11,400 each, giving them a potential combined value of more than $35 billion. Nvidia is expected to provide early samples in December, with commercial deliveries starting in the first quarter of 2027.

U.S. controls redirect China's AI chip demand

Nvidia's Blackwell-based B300 data-centre chip cannot be sold to Chinese customers under U.S. export controls, while exports of the Hopper-based H200 are reviewed case by case and remain subject to licensing conditions. Chinese companies are seeking to use the RTX PRO 5500 mainly for AI inference, a workload that typically requires less computing power than training models on very large datasets.

The scale of the orders points to continuing demand in China for Nvidia hardware even as Washington's restrictions push buyers toward domestic alternatives. Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has said the curbs reduce the company's share of China's AI data-centre chip market from near monopoly levels to effectively nothing, yet the RTX PRO 5500 demand suggests the company still retains a significant opening through lower-powered products.

The supply constraints also reflect Nvidia's manufacturing priorities. Two sources say the company is expected from 2027 to devote much of its Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co capacity to Rubin, its next-generation large-scale data-centre platform, rather than products such as the RTX PRO 5500. In an October 13 filing, Shenzhen-listed Tansun Technology says it has agreed to buy 20,000 RTX PRO 5500 cards from an unidentified counterparty, while warning that shortages, industry demand and overseas technology controls could delay deliveries or reduce volumes.

In our earlier coverage of the intensifying AI safety debate, we examined Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s call for closer engagement with Chinese AI companies to help monitor and mitigate potentially dangerous uses of advanced systems. We also noted discussions around formal U.S.-China communication channels for serious AI incidents, and Huang’s view that the UK could serve as a neutral venue to coordinate international AI safety efforts.

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