SAN FRANCISCO: ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than three million of Nvidia's new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards with a collective sticker price of over US$35 billion, two people familiar with the matter said, in a rush for a less powerful but export-compliant chip amid US restrictions on trade with China.
US-based chipmaker Nvidia has told customers and partners it cannot guarantee that it can fill the orders because demand from Chinese technology companies far exceeds planned production, the two sources and a third person familiar with the matter said. They requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
The RTX PRO 5500 is a workstation chip, designed for powerful professional computers rather than the large data-centre clusters that use Nvidia's most advanced AI processors. But it is among the most powerful Nvidia chips that are still available to Chinese buyers.
