China — ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent Place More Than $35 Billion in Nvidia Chip Orders
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards, with a combined listed value of over $35 billion, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters.
The orders underscore the continued appetite for Nvidia hardware among Chinese technology companies despite US restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. The companies are looking for products that remain accessible under existing export controls as they compete to build and deploy artificial intelligence systems.
Nvidia has informed customers and business partners that it cannot guarantee delivery of the requested quantities because demand from Chinese buyers far exceeds its planned production, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the situation. The sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The RTX PRO 5500 is built for high-performance professional workstations rather than large data-center installations. Even so, it ranks among the most powerful Nvidia chips available to Chinese customers under current restrictions.
US export controls prohibit Nvidia from selling its Blackwell-based B300 data-center chip to Chinese buyers. Exports of its Hopper-based H200 processor, meanwhile, are subject to case-by-case reviews and licensing requirements.
One source said Nvidia had indicated that customers might receive just 5% to 10% of the quantities they ordered. Another source said the company had indicated that it could produce no more than 3 million RTX PRO 5500 cards worldwide in 2027.
Chinese customers have placed orders for more than 6 million units in total, according to two of the sources.
The orders from ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent involve cards priced at approximately $11,400 apiece. At that price, the combined value of their purchases could surpass $35 billion.
The size of the orders demonstrates that Chinese companies continue to pursue Nvidia products despite Washington’s export restrictions. It also highlights the computing-capacity challenges facing Chinese technology firms as they develop increasingly sophisticated AI models.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has previously said US restrictions had reduced the company’s share of China’s AI data-center chip market from near-monopoly levels to effectively nothing. However, continued interest in less powerful products indicates that Nvidia may still maintain a substantial market among Chinese customers.
Export restrictions have pushed Chinese companies to explore domestic alternatives, while Beijing has encouraged the adoption of locally developed processors. Huawei has gained market share, although Chinese chipmakers have struggled to match leading American products, partly because separate restrictions limit their access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
An Nvidia spokesperson said Chinese manufacturers of workstation chips and cards had experienced “unprecedented growth since 2022,” when the restrictions were first introduced.
The spokesperson also criticized the combination of US export controls and China’s own restrictions on imports of American products. ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. The relevant US and Chinese government agencies also did not respond.
The RTX PRO 5500 is less powerful than the H200 and B300, which are designed to handle demanding AI workloads using large numbers of interconnected processors. According to the sources, Chinese companies primarily want the cards for AI inference, the process through which trained models generate responses.
These supply pressures have increased the appeal of alternative products. Nvidia’s earlier RTX 6000D, a reduced-capability chip developed to comply with US restrictions, initially attracted limited interest. But as restrictions continued and computing capacity remained scarce, demand for substitutes grew. The RTX 6000D has since been discontinued, and its market price in China has doubled, one source said.
Beginning in 2027, Nvidia is expected to devote much of its production capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to its next-generation Rubin platform for large data centers. The company has told customers to expect early samples of the RTX PRO 5500 in December, with commercial deliveries scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
The supply challenges illustrate how export controls, manufacturing priorities and China’s growing AI ambitions are reshaping demand for semiconductor products.
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