AI-assisted research analysis by FutureKnowledge. Sources checked 21 October 2026. This is not investment advice.
Reviewed by FutureKnowledge: figures, dates and attributions were checked against the linked sources before publication.
Nvidia has received orders for more than 3 million RTX PRO 5500 cards worth over $35 billion from ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent, according to a Reuters report carried by Business Standard, but the chipmaker has warned that it cannot guarantee it will fill them. The gap between demand and supply shows how strong Chinese appetite for AI computing remains and how scarce manufacturing capacity has become.
What happened: Nvidia’s China chip orders in numbers
The report, published on 20 October and based on people familiar with the matter, says the three companies ordered more than 3 million cards at roughly $11,400 each. Total orders from Chinese customers have passed 6 million units, according to two of the sources. Nvidia has told customers and partners that Chinese demand far exceeds its planned production; one source said partners might receive only 5% to 10% of what they asked for, and another said Nvidia could make no more than 3 million of these cards worldwide in 2027.
Nvidia has told customers to expect early samples in December and commercial deliveries from the first quarter of 2027, TIKR’s summary of the report notes. From 2027, Nvidia is also expected to shift much of its contract manufacturing capacity at TSMC to Rubin, its next data-centre platform. TSMC declined to comment, and ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment.
The orders are not confined to the three giants. In a 13 October filing, Shenzhen-listed Tansun Technology said it had agreed to buy 20,000 RTX PRO 5500 cards from an unnamed counterparty and warned that shortages and overseas technology controls could delay deliveries or cut volumes, the Business Standard report says. (One aggregator, BigGo Finance, names a different company for this filing; we follow the Reuters account.)
Why Chinese buyers want a workstation card
The RTX PRO 5500 is a workstation graphics card, less powerful than Nvidia’s H200 and B300 data-centre chips, which are built to be linked in large clusters for training AI models. Under US export controls, the Blackwell-based B300 cannot be sold to Chinese buyers, while H200 exports are reviewed case by case with licensing conditions, as a StockTwits report republished on Yahoo Finance sets out. That leaves the RTX PRO 5500 among the most capable Nvidia products Chinese firms can still buy.
According to the sources, Chinese companies mainly want the cards for inference, the work of running trained models to answer user requests, which needs less computing power per task than training.
The rush also reflects scarcity. Nvidia launched a similar export-compliant card, the RTX 6000D, in mid-2025; Chinese buyers showed little interest at first, the product has since been discontinued, and one source said its market price in China has doubled.
What it means for Nvidia’s China business
Nvidia’s own guidance shows why any China sales would count as extra. In its second-quarter fiscal 2027 results filed with the SEC on 26 August, the company reported revenue of $96.2 billion, data-centre revenue of $89.0 billion, and a third-quarter outlook of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%. The release states that Nvidia “is not assuming any Data Center compute revenue from China” in that outlook.
Chief executive Jensen Huang has said US restrictions cut Nvidia’s share of China’s AI data-centre chip market from near-monopoly to effectively nothing. An Nvidia spokesperson told Reuters that Chinese makers of workstation chips and cards have seen “unprecedented growth since 2022” and blamed both US export controls and China’s limits on US imports.
The headline $35 billion is a list-price value of requests, not revenue. As a rough illustration only, if the three companies received 5% to 10% of their orders, that would equal about $1.75 billion to $3.5 billion of cards at list price; this is FutureKnowledge arithmetic from the reported figures, not company guidance. Even the maximum reported 2027 output of 3 million cards would be worth about $34 billion at $11,400 each, spread across all customers worldwide, compared with $89.0 billion of data-centre revenue in a single recent quarter.
Why it matters for businesses and India
For companies that build or rent AI computing capacity, the report is another sign that supply, not demand, sets the pace. Nvidia is prioritising its newest data-centre platforms, which means older or export-specific products compete for limited manufacturing slots. Server makers and cloud providers outside China, including those in India, tend to feel this through longer delivery times and firmer prices for accelerators, as seen in Super Micro’s raised outlook on AI demand.
The episode also sits within a wider contest over technology controls. Washington restricts what US chips can go to China, and Beijing has encouraged homegrown alternatives, with Huawei gaining share, while proposing its own curbs, as covered in our report on China’s draft export controls on 40 technologies. Regulatory approval on either side remains a risk; neither the US Bureau of Industry and Security nor China’s industry ministry responded to Reuters.
Who is more or less exposed
- More exposed: Chinese platform companies whose AI services depend on imported inference chips; suppliers in Nvidia’s chain whose volumes depend on product mix; investors whose expectations assume China sales return.
- Less exposed: Domestic Chinese chip designers, which benefit if Nvidia cannot deliver; buyers outside China with existing long-term supply arrangements.
Scenarios to watch
The table below sets out conditional scenarios, not predictions.
| If this happens | Likely consequence | Signal to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Nvidia ships only 5–10% of requested volumes | China revenue stays small relative to total; Chinese buyers lean further on domestic chips | Nvidia’s commentary on China in its next quarterly results |
| Nvidia adds capacity for the card | Larger China contribution in 2027; tighter supply for other products | TSMC capacity comments and Nvidia supply statements |
| Washington tightens rules on workstation cards | Orders could stall or be cancelled | Bureau of Industry and Security notices |
| Beijing discourages purchases of US chips | Demand shifts to Huawei and other local suppliers | Guidance from China’s industry ministry |
What to watch next
- Whether early samples arrive in December as customers have been told.
- Nvidia’s third-quarter fiscal 2027 results, and whether it changes its stance of assuming no China data-centre compute revenue.
- Any US or Chinese regulatory statement on the RTX PRO 5500.
- Pressure on AI hardware stocks, which recently had their longest losing streak since 2008.
Bottom line
The reported $35 billion of Nvidia China chip orders shows Chinese demand for AI inference is enormous even for a cut-down workstation card. But the binding constraint is manufacturing capacity and regulation, not appetite: if the sources are right, most of these orders will not be filled in 2027, and Nvidia has itself told investors not to count on China data-centre revenue.
Method note: This analysis compared the Reuters report as published by Business Standard, coverage by StockTwits via Yahoo Finance, TIKR, DigitalToday and BigGo Finance, against Nvidia’s 8-K results release. Order figures come from unnamed sources and are not confirmed by Nvidia or the buyers.