China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has asked selected companies, including ByteDance and Alibaba, about the volumes of Nvidia's RTX Pro 5500 chips they want and how they plan to use the hardware, and has told some firms that Beijing intends to approve the purchases, according to Reuters. The news said it could not immediately verify the report, and authorities have not publicly confirmed final approval, purchase limits, or review standards. No additional company buyers were named, and the timing of any approval as well as each buyer's allocation remain unclear.

A Workstation Chip, Not a Data Center Accelerator

The chip at the center of the possible approval is a workstation product rather than one of Nvidia's leading data center accelerators. Nvidia released the RTX Pro 5500 only this month. It targets high-end professional computers used by engineers and designers, and it shares a core design with Nvidia's top gaming graphics card. However, it lacks the high-speed links and fast memory common in the company's data center products, according to The Information.

Despite that workstation orientation, some Chinese buyers plan to install the chips in servers. One configuration would place eight cards in each server, allowing them to work together on larger models. One buyer planned to use the cards to run AI models for customers, the report said.

ByteDance Reportedly Weighs an Order of About One Million Units

ByteDance is weighing an order of about one million RTX Pro 5500 units, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. That figure remains provisional and could change depending on Beijing's decision and Nvidia's available supply. ByteDance did not publicly confirm an order, and The Information did not disclose Alibaba's requested volume or confirm either company's order.

Nvidia plans to begin shipping RTX Pro 5500 units to buyers in China in late December of this year, and it targets about 500,000 units per quarter for the Chinese market. At that targeted pace, ByteDance's reported interest alone would equal roughly two quarters of Nvidia's planned China supply. Nvidia's sales staff reportedly urged customers to place orders by September 30 to secure supply. If Beijing approves a large order, fulfillment could extend across multiple quarters.

The timing matters for firms seeking new Nvidia chip capacity, though no delivery schedule exists for ByteDance or Alibaba. The report did not specify how officials would set each buyer's allocation.

China Weighs Computing Demand Against Chip Access Rules

Chinese AI companies are expanding chatbots and software agents, increasing demand for computing capacity. The ministry's inquiries went to selected firms rather than amounting to a nationwide clearance, and it has not publicly announced any blanket policy change. Firms may need to explain their demand before receiving permission to import the Nvidia chip.

China has encouraged domestic chipmakers and limited Nvidia chip purchases over national-security concerns, complicating access to U.S. hardware. Beijing barred large Chinese technology firms from buying the RTX Pro 6000D, although smaller firms could still purchase it. Authorities previously told ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent to pause Nvidia GPU orders during a security review. In July, Beijing told ByteDance, Alibaba, and DeepSeek they could seek limited H200 purchases if they explained their needs. That explain-first structure parallels the demand inquiries now surrounding the RTX Pro 5500. For the quarter ended July 26, H200 sales contributed under 1% of Nvidia's data center revenue from China.

U.S. export controls present a separate question. Washington had not publicly addressed whether the RTX Pro 5500 avoids those restrictions. Nvidia's forecast for the current quarter excludes data center revenue from China.

Two chip buyers reportedly sell the RTX Pro 5500 locally for 85,000 to 90,000 yuan, roughly $13,000. They placed that price near Huawei's Ascend 950PR, which launched earlier this year, according to buyers. That puts the U.S. chip and a Chinese-made alternative in the same price range for local buyers. Those quotes came from buyers, not from Nvidia.

This report was first published by [Blockonomihttps://blockonomi.com/china-considers-nvidia-chip-approval-for-bytedance-and-alibaba/).