China Signals Approval for Alibaba and ByteDance to Purchase Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 Chips
Summary
- • China's MIIT asked Alibaba and ByteDance to report Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 purchase plans
- • Government signals intent to approve; chip sits outside US export control rules
- • Approval follows Trump-Xi summit where national security export controls were shelved
- • NVDA at $225; all 31 analysts rate buy; any China sales would be pure incremental upside
Details
China's MIIT surveys Alibaba, ByteDance on Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 plans, signals approval
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology asked Alibaba, ByteDance, and other domestic tech firms to report how many Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 cards they want and why — signaling the government intends to approve the purchases, according to The Information citing two people familiar with the matter. Neither Beijing nor the companies has officially confirmed the plan.
RTX PRO 5500: workstation card, 84 GB memory, 600W; marketed for AI inference and agents
The Nvidia RTX PRO 5500 is a high-end professional workstation card marketed for AI agents, AI inference, and simulation. It carries 84 GB of memory and draws up to 600 watts. As a workstation part rather than a data-center chip, it sits outside the US export control framework that targets Nvidia's H100 and A100-class server hardware.
RTX PRO 5500 falls outside US export control rules targeting data-center chips
US export restrictions on Nvidia hardware specifically target data-center chips sold in bulk for AI training and inference at scale. The RTX PRO 5500's classification as a workstation product means China approving its purchase involves no conflict with current US export control law, making the greenlight legally uncontroversial from the US side.
Approval follows Trump-Xi summit; US trade rep said export controls taken 'off the table'
The MIIT signal came days after President Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at a Washington state dinner. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer subsequently said national security export controls were taken 'off the table' during the meetings — suggesting a broader US-China technology re-engagement may be beginning.
Nvidia's $108B quarterly forecast assumes zero China data-center revenue; RTX sales incremental
Nvidia's guidance for the current quarter assumes no China data-center chip revenue. Any RTX PRO 5500 sales to Chinese buyers would therefore come on top of that $108B outlook as pure upside. NVDA stock closed Friday at $225.07; all 31 analysts tracked by TipRanks rate it a buy, with an average price target of $324.32.
Huawei and Cambricon hold ~80% of China's AI server market; Nvidia recovery will take time
Despite the approval signal, Huawei and Cambricon dominate approximately 80% of China's AI server market. Domestically produced alternatives continue to grow — chip designer Enflame debuted on the Shanghai stock exchange this month. Meaningful recovery of Nvidia's China revenue share will require sustained policy openings beyond workstation-class hardware.
Sept 2025: China blocked Nvidia RTX Pro 6000D; stock fell 2.6% — current move reverses that trend
The last major China chip headline went the other way: in September 2025, Beijing directed firms to stop buying Nvidia's RTX Pro 6000D, sending NVDA stock down 2.6% in a single session. CEO Jensen Huang said at the time, 'I think that we could only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be.' The current news represents a directional reversal, though it covers a different product class.
Sources: The Information (via TechMeme), Yahoo Finance/beincrypto, September 27, 2026.
What This Means
China's move to greenlight Nvidia workstation chip purchases is a cautious, politically manageable step toward hardware re-engagement — one that sidesteps US export controls while giving domestic AI companies access to compute they've been short on. For Nvidia, the RTX PRO 5500's exclusion from export restrictions means this is pure incremental revenue with no regulatory risk. The backdrop of Trump-Xi détente and the US Trade Representative's comments about export controls being "off the table" suggests this could be the opening move in a broader technology normalization. However, Huawei and Cambricon's near-80% grip on China's AI server market means meaningful Nvidia revenue recovery in China will take time even if approvals continue to expand.
Sentiment
Cautiously positive among traders and chip watchers, focused on Nvidia's incremental China revenue
“China is signaling it may allow major domestic tech firms including Alibaba and ByteDance to purchase Nvidia’s new RTX Pro 5500 chips... ByteDance is reportedly considering an order of roughly 1 million chips, which would give Nvidia a potentially meaningful path back into China’s AI market after years of restrictions.”
“China is weighing whether to let ByteDance and Alibaba buy Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 chips for high-end professional computers... the chip reportedly dodges US export rules.”
“The scale of that demand shows how tight China’s AI compute supply remains even as Beijing pushes domestic chips.”
“Beijing is quietly reopening the AI hardware spigot as the trade truce holds. Silicon is the signal; the truce is the noise. $NVDA”
Split
~80/20 positive-to-neutral with no meaningful negative takes; traders see revenue upside while noting limited scope vs full AI accelerators.
Sources
- China May Reopen Nvidia's AI Market. How Will NVDA Stock React Monday? - Yahoo FinanceFinance
- Sources: China's government asked Alibaba, ByteDance, and others to report on their plans to buy Nvidia RTX Pro 5500, saying it intends to approve the purchasesTheinformation
- Nvidia may sell more chips in China as Jensen Huang’s influence over Trump growsArs Technica