TLDR
- ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have reportedly ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 cards.
- The orders have a combined sticker price of over $35 billion, at about $11,400 per card.
- Nvidia has said it cannot guarantee it can fill the orders, and some buyers may get only 5% to 10%.
- The card is a workstation chip that complies with US export controls on China.
- Early samples are expected in December, with commercial deliveries set for the first quarter of 2027.
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than 3 million of Nvidia’s new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards, Reuters reported on October 20. The orders have a combined sticker price of more than $35 billion.
NVIDIA $NVDA — CHINESE TECH GIANTS HAVE ORDERED OVER $35B IN CHIPS. BUT CAN NVIDIA DELIVER?
ByteDance, Alibaba $BABA and Tencent have reportedly ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 GPUs, worth over $35B at list prices, according to Reuters.
These are less powerful… pic.twitter.com/tbWmyfJbYT— Emmanuel – Big Tech & AI Investor (@EmmanuelInvest) October 20, 2026
Two people familiar with the matter shared details of the orders with Reuters. The cards are priced at about $11,400 each.
Nvidia has told customers and partners it cannot guarantee it can fill the orders. Demand from Chinese technology companies far exceeds planned production, the sources said.
Demand Outpaces Supply for Nvidia’s China Chip
One source said partners might receive only 5% to 10% of the quantities they requested. Another said Nvidia could make no more than 3 million cards worldwide in 2027.
Total orders from customers in China have passed 6 million, according to two of the sources.
The RTX PRO 5500 is a workstation chip. It is less powerful than the Hopper-based H200 and Blackwell-based B300 data center chips.
US export controls bar sales of the B300 to Chinese buyers. Sales of the H200 are reviewed case by case and carry licensing conditions.
The Chinese companies mainly want the cards for AI inference, which means running trained models to produce chatbot responses. Inference generally needs less computing power than training.
Nvidia launched a similar chip, the RTX 6000D, in the middle of last year. Major Chinese firms showed little interest at first, and some declined to place orders.
Buyers had hoped Washington would allow sales of more powerful chips. Those hopes faded as the limits stayed in place, which made the new card more appealing, two sources said.
Production Plans and Market Backdrop
Starting in 2027, Nvidia is expected to devote much of its capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to Rubin, its next generation platform. That platform is built for large data centers.
The RTX 6000D has been discontinued, and its price in China has doubled, one source said.
Chief Executive Jensen Huang has said the restrictions cut Nvidia’s share of China’s AI data center chip market from near monopoly to effectively nothing. An Nvidia spokesperson blamed outdated US export controls and China’s own limits on US imports.
On October 13, Shenzhen-listed Tansun Technology said it agreed to buy 20,000 RTX PRO 5500 cards from an unnamed counterparty. The company warned that supply shortages and overseas technology controls could delay deliveries.
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment. Nvidia has told customers to expect early samples in December, with commercial deliveries starting in the first quarter of 2027.
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