Chinese Tech Giants Order $35 Billion in Nvidia Chips
ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent ordered over 3 million Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 chips to bypass U.S. export curbs on advanced AI hardware.
Nvidia cannot guarantee the fulfillment of more than 3 million RTX PRO 5500 graphics card orders from Chinese firms, totaling over $35 billion. ByteDance, Alibaba Group, and Tencent placed the orders to secure computing power for AI inference, as the RTX PRO 5500 remains available under current U.S. export restrictions that block more advanced chips like the Blackwell-based B300.
Total demand from China has exceeded 6 million units, while Nvidia expects to produce only 3 million cards globally in 2027. Consequently, partners may receive only 5% to 10% of their requested quantities. Other firms, including Tansun Technology, have also joined the rush, with the latter agreeing to purchase 20,000 cards.
Commercial deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027. However, Nvidia plans to prioritize its next-generation Rubin platform at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co starting that year, further limiting the availability of the workstation chips.
