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China’s industry ministry has told ByteDance, Alibaba and other companies that it intends to approve purchases of Nvidia’s RTX Pro 5500. ByteDance is considering about 1 million cards, The Information reported Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in an exclusive based on two people familiar with the matter. Approval would give Chinese AI developers access to Nvidia’s new Blackwell workstation card as Washington and Beijing maintain separate restrictions on chip sales.
What Changed
- China's industry ministry told ByteDance, Alibaba and other companies it intends to approve purchases of Nvidia's RTX Pro 5500 workstation card, according to two people familiar with the matter.
- ByteDance is considering about 1 million cards, while Nvidia plans to ship about 500,000 per quarter to China from late December 2026.
- Chinese chip stocks fell on Sept. 28: SMIC lost 3.7%, Moore Threads 6.3% and Cambricon 5.7%.
- Earlier H200 approvals had delivered no chips by May 2026, and Washington has not said whether the RTX Pro 5500 can ship to China.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
A workstation card for server racks
The ministry asked companies to state their planned quantities and uses. Nvidia unveiled the RTX Pro 5500 in September 2026 for rack-mounted workstation deployment. Its Sept. 9 product page lists 84GB of GDDR7 memory and power consumption of up to 600 watts. The card uses the same GB202 processor as the GeForce RTX 5090 but carries about 2.6 times the gaming card’s 32GB of memory.
Prospective Chinese buyers are considering using several cards together in servers. One buyer reportedly planned to install eight cards per server to run larger AI models. The configuration can support inference and content production, but the card lacks the high-bandwidth memory used in server accelerators and falls short of Nvidia’s B200 and GB200 systems for large training jobs.
Orders could outrun initial supply
The report said Nvidia plans to ship about 500,000 RTX Pro 5500 cards per quarter to China beginning in late December 2026. ByteDance’s potential order of about 1 million cards would equal two quarters of that planned supply.
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The reported Chinese price as of Sept. 27 was 85,000 to 90,000 yuan per card, close to Huawei’s Ascend 950PR released earlier in 2026.
Chinese chip stocks fall
Chinese semiconductor shares fell Monday, Sept. 28, as the prospect of renewed Nvidia sales pointed to more competition for domestic suppliers. SMIC lost 3.7%, Hua Hong fell nearly 5%, Moore Threads dropped 6.3% and Cambricon declined 5.7%, while broader Chinese and Hong Kong markets gained.
Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, described possible approval as a pragmatic response to gaps in domestic chip performance and supply. An Nvidia spokesperson said: “US firms continue to be restricted by a combination of outdated US export controls, which cover gaming products released nearly half a decade ago, and China’s own limits on US imports.”
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Earlier approvals did not deliver chips
China asked Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance to prepare H200 orders in January 2026. The United States later licensed seven Chinese companies to buy as many as 75,000 H200 chips each, yet no H200 had been delivered by May 2026. In September 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered major technology companies to stop testing Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D and cancel orders.
The report gives no approval date, criteria or allowed volume. It rests on two anonymous sources in one paywalled report that no company, ministry or other outlet has confirmed.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for blocking such sales in a July open letter: “We should not sell powerful chips or chipmaking equipment to China.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said semiconductor export controls were not discussed in negotiations with China. Customers were told to place RTX Pro 5500 orders by Sept. 30, while Washington has not said whether the cards can be shipped to China.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Nvidia RTX Pro 5500?
A Blackwell workstation card Nvidia unveiled in September 2026 for rack-mounted deployment. It carries 84GB of GDDR7 memory, draws up to 600 watts, and uses the same GB202 processor as the GeForce RTX 5090 with about 2.6 times its memory.
What did China's industry ministry ask companies?
It asked ByteDance, Alibaba and others to state how many RTX Pro 5500 cards they plan to buy and for what uses, and told them it intends to approve the purchases. The report gives no approval date, criteria or allowed volume.
How many cards could ByteDance buy?
ByteDance is considering about 1 million cards. Nvidia plans to ship about 500,000 per quarter to China beginning in late December 2026, so that order would equal two quarters of planned supply.
Why do Chinese buyers want a workstation card?
Buyers plan to run several cards together in servers; one reportedly planned eight per server to run larger AI models. The card lacks high-bandwidth memory and falls short of Nvidia's B200 and GB200 systems for large training jobs.
Does approval mean the chips will arrive?
Not necessarily. China asked firms to prepare H200 orders in January 2026 and the U.S. licensed seven Chinese companies, yet no H200 had been delivered by May 2026. Washington has not said whether the RTX Pro 5500 can ship to China.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
Marcus Schuler
Editor-in-Chief and founder of Implicator.ai. Former ARD correspondent and senior broadcast journalist with 10+ years covering tech. Writes daily briefings on policy and market developments. Based in San Francisco. E-mail: editor@implicator.ai
