# ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent order 3 million NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500 GPUs for $35 billion

Digest AI · Hardware & Compute · published 2026-10-20T19:30:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/bytedance-alibaba-and-tencent-order-3-million-nvidia-rtx-pro-5500-gpus

## Summary

ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have placed orders for more than 3 million NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500 workstation graphics cards, according to a Reuters exclusive that cites people familiar with the matter. At roughly $11,400 per card, the combined sticker price tops $35 billion. The RTX PRO 5500 is designed to comply with current U.S. export rules and is aimed at AI inference workloads, which are less compute‑intensive than training.

NVIDIA has told partners it cannot guarantee full delivery and sources say the company may cap global production of the RTX PRO 5500 at around 3 million units by next year. Total orders from Chinese customers have already exceeded 6 million, and some buyers have been warned they could receive only 5 to 10 percent of the volume they requested. Commercial shipments are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027 as NVIDIA shifts capacity to its next‑generation Rubin platform, meaning smaller Chinese firms could be locked out of the supply.

The move underscores the continued appetite for legally available AI compute in China despite years of U.S. export controls that, according to NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, have reduced the company’s data‑center market share in the country to essentially zero.

## Key points

- ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent ordered over 3 million RTX PRO 5500 GPUs at about $11,400 each, total > $35 billion.
- NVIDIA may cap RTX PRO 5500 production at ~3 million units by next year; some buyers warned of receiving only 5‑10% of requested volume.
- Commercial shipments expected in Q1 2027 as NVIDIA shifts focus to Rubin platform, potentially locking out small Chinese businesses.

## Why it matters

Shows China's intense demand for AI compute despite U.S. export bans, pressures NVIDIA's supply chain and could reshape global GPU market and AI development in China.

## Sources

1. [ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent order NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500 chips worth over $35 billion](https://tweaktown.com/news/114183/bytedance-alibaba-and-tencent-order-nvidia-rtx-pro-5500-chips-worth-over-dollars35-billion/index.html) (tweaktown.com, 2026-10-20)

Part of the developing story: [AI GPU Gold Rush Fuels Global Market Surge](https://digestai.news/thread/nvidia-rtx-5060-ti-16-gb-surges-up-to-144-in-japan-hitting-1-292) (4 stories)

## Cite

Digest AI, "ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent order 3 million NVIDIA RTX PRO 5500 GPUs for $35 billion", 20 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/bytedance-alibaba-and-tencent-order-3-million-nvidia-rtx-pro-5500-gpus

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