By Cris Tolomia
Publication Date: 2026-09-28 13:12:00
China’s government has signaled it may allow domestic companies including ByteDance and Alibaba to purchase Nvidia’s RTX PRO 5500 chips, which are built for high-end professional computers, according to Reuters.
According to The Information, which cited two people familiar with the matter, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has reached out to ByteDance, Alibaba, and other companies, asking them to submit purchase plans for the RTX PRO 5500. Some of those companies were subsequently informed by the ministry that approval for the purchases is anticipated, The Information reported. Some industry executives expect the RTX PRO 5500 to fall outside the scope of U.S. export restrictions, according to The Information.
When Reuters sought comment, an Nvidia spokesperson provided the following statement: “U.S. firms continue to be restricted by a combination of outdated U.S. export controls, which cover gaming products released nearly a half a decade ago, and China’s own limits on U.S. imports.” Neither Alibaba nor ByteDance replied to Reuters when the news agency sought comment.
The potential chip purchases come as Chinese AI companies have sought multiple avenues to access Nvidia hardware. Chinese firms including ByteDance, Alibaba, Moonshot AI, and Tencent have obtained access to restricted Nvidia chip compute by routing through data centers in countries including Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan. U.S. export controls govern the physical transfer of chips…
