ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent Order Over $35 Billion in Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 Chips
Key Takeaways
- •ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have collectively ordered more than 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards valued at over $35 billion at list prices, per Reuters.
- •Total orders from Chinese customers for the card have surpassed 6 million units, more than double Nvidia's maximum planned global production of about 3 million units for 2027, and partners may receive only 5% to 10% of requested.
- •The RTX PRO 5500 is a workstation chip less powerful than Nvidia's H200 and B300 data center processors, and US export controls bar the B300 from China while subjecting H200 sales to case-by-case licensing, making the card viable mainly for AI inference rather than model training.
- •Nvidia's earlier China-oriented chip, the RTX 6000D, was discontinued after major Chinese firms initially declined to buy it while hoping for access to more powerful chips, and its price in China has since doubled.
- •Nvidia plans early samples of the RTX PRO 5500 in December with commercial deliveries starting in the first quarter of 2027, while much of its TSMC capacity from 2027 is expected to be devoted to the next-generation Rubin data center platform.
ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than 3 million of Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards, Reuters reported on October 20, in orders carrying a combined sticker price of more than $35 billion.
Nvidia is the leading supplier of AI accelerators, and its processors are central to training and running large AI models. The United States has imposed successive export controls since 2022 restricting China's access to advanced AI chips.
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 described the orders to Reuters. The cards are priced at about $11,400 each. Nvidia has told customers and partners that it cannot guarantee it can fill the orders, and the sources said demand from Chinese technology companies far exceeds the chipmaker's planned production.
The three companies — ByteDance, the owner of TikTok; e-commerce and cloud group Alibaba; and Tencent, the operator of WeChat — are among China's largest technology companies.
Demand Far Outstrips Planned Supply
One source said partners may receive only 5% to 10% of the quantities they requested. Another said Nvidia could produce no more than 3 million of the cards worldwide in 2027. According to two of the sources, total orders from customers in China have already passed 6 million units — more than double Nvidia's maximum planned global output for the card in 2027.
The RTX PRO 5500 is a workstation chip that is less powerful than Nvidia's data center processors, the Hopper-based H200 and the Blackwell-based B300. US export controls bar sales of the B300 to Chinese buyers, while H200 sales are reviewed case by case and carry licensing conditions.
The Chinese companies mainly want the cards for AI inference — running trained models to produce chatbot responses and similar outputs. Inference generally requires less computing power than training, the process of building AI models in the first place. That gap is what makes workstation-class hardware workable for buyers whose priority is running models rather than building them — and it helps explain why China's largest technology groups are turning to cards far below Nvidia's flagship data center silicon.
Nvidia launched a similar chip, the RTX 6000D, in the middle of last year. Major Chinese firms initially showed little interest, and some declined to place orders, because buyers had hoped Washington would allow sales of more powerful chips. Those hopes faded as the restrictions stayed in place, two sources said, making the new card more appealing. For Nvidia, the shift turns a segment it once struggled to sell into demand it has already said it cannot guarantee to meet.
Production Plans and Market Backdrop
Starting in 2027, Nvidia is expected to devote much of its capacity at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker, to Rubin, the company's next-generation platform built for large data centers.
The RTX 6000D has since been discontinued, and its price in China has doubled, one source said.
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has said the US restrictions cut the company's share of China's AI data center chip market from a near monopoly to effectively nothing. An Nvidia spokesperson blamed outdated US export controls, along with China's own limits on imports from the United States.
On October 13, Shenzhen-listed Tansun Technology said it had agreed to buy 20,000 RTX PRO 5500 cards from an unnamed counterparty, warning 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 of the RTX PRO 5500 in December, with commercial deliveries set to begin in the first quarter of 2027. Whether those deliveries land anywhere close to requested volumes — with allocations sources put as low as 5% — remains the central open question for the card's rollout.
This article is based on reporting first published by CoinCentral.
