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Chinese tech firms would get about 1% of the chips they ordered from NVIDIA, Bloomberg says
IA en un minuto newsroom · Editor: Jon Elgezabal
In 30 seconds
NVIDIA will barely be able to fill Chinese orders for its RTX Pro 5500 chip in the coming months, Bloomberg says. Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance expect tens of thousands of units out of about 6 million ordered, because production is being kept for the most advanced parts. Bloomberg puts those orders at roughly $70 billion, and NVIDIA declined to comment on the figures.
China's big tech companies would receive only about 1% of the NVIDIA chips they have on order over the next four months. Bloomberg reported this on November 4, based on people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.
Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and other Chinese AI and cloud companies have reportedly placed orders for about 6 million RTX Pro 5500 units in total. According to Bloomberg, this NVIDIA chip falls below the level of power at which the US bans its sale to China, and it is among the best that can be bought there. At more than $11,000 apiece, the orders would come to roughly $70 billion.
The companies expect to get some tens of thousands in that period: a first batch of several thousand before the year is out and another of tens of thousands around February. One of the sources said these are the only two confirmed shipments so far. By the end of 2027 they reckon they could have roughly 700,000 units if NVIDIA steps up production, although that number may change.
Bloomberg puts the bottleneck down to a lack of capacity: NVIDIA cannot make chips as fast as demand grows and gives priority to its most sophisticated, higher-margin parts, the ones used by customers such as OpenAI and Anthropic. On top of that, NVIDIA and TSMC, which makes its chips, are shifting more capacity to next-generation products such as Rubin.
NVIDIA declined to comment on shipment numbers. A spokesperson blamed "outdated" US export controls and the limits China places on imports of American chips. Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance did not respond to Bloomberg. None of the companies has confirmed the figures.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
More than a sanctions story, this is a scarcity story. The chip China is allowed to buy arrives in a trickle because NVIDIA would rather make what earns it the most, and that leaves Chinese tech firms with less computing power than they wanted. The effect will show in how fast they can train and serve their models, and it will push them toward local makers that are still behind. For any company that relies on AI chips, the message is clear: manufacturing capacity is still the industry's bottleneck, and whoever is not a priority customer waits. It is worth remembering that all of this comes from anonymous sources and that NVIDIA does not confirm it.
Source: Bloomberg · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
