ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent place huge RTX Pro 5500 orders as Nvidia warns of short supply
The reported purchases show how Chinese AI and cloud firms are still chasing Nvidia compute, even as supply is expected to cover only a small share of demand.
Reuters reports that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have placed massive orders for Nvidia’s export-compliant RTX Pro 5500 workstation GPU, underscoring how Chinese cloud and AI players are still trying to secure compute despite U.S. controls. The purchases are said to exceed $35 billion and cover more than 3 million cards, with unit pricing around $11,400. Nvidia has reportedly warned customers that the demand far exceeds its planned output and that it may only satisfy a small fraction of the orders. One source said the company may be able to cover only 5% to 10% of demand, while planned global production for the RTX Pro 5500 is just 3 million units in 2027. Nvidia, ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have not publicly confirmed the figures.
Why it matters
For these buyers, the issue is no longer just getting access to Nvidia chips, but how much of their demand can actually be met. If Nvidia can deliver only 5% to 10% and plans 3 million RTX Pro 5500 cards globally in 2027, these orders point to a severe gap between what Chinese tech firms want and what they can obtain.
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Sources
- Tom's Hardware