Chinese technology companies have placed orders for Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 workstation GPUs worth roughly $35 billion, according to reports, as they look to secure hardware for AI development. The card has drawn interest from Chinese buyers in part because it is not currently covered by U.S. export restrictions. Nvidia has not confirmed the orders on the record, and the Chinese companies involved have likewise not confirmed them.
The RTX Pro 5500 carries the same number of CUDA cores as Nvidia's flagship RTX 5090 GPU but pairs them with 84GB of GDDR7 memory, a configuration the source describes as well suited to AI work. It is less capable than Nvidia's H200 and B300 enterprise AI GPUs, which remain banned or heavily restricted for export to China. That gap has left cards like the RTX Pro 5500 in steady demand as China pushes to keep pace with the U.S. in developing newer AI models.
Pricing details indicate the cards cost about $11,400 each, which brings the total order value to the $35 billion figure. Nvidia has told partners it may be able to supply only enough cards to cover between 5% and 10% of the demand, according to one source cited in the reporting. The company is reportedly positioned to manufacture only 3 million RTX Pro 5500 units worldwide in 2027.
An Nvidia spokesman told Reuters that demand from the Chinese market for these chips has seen unprecedented growth since 2022, when export restrictions were introduced. The spokesman also said U.S. firms remain constrained by a combination of outdated U.S. export controls, which he said cover gaming products released nearly half a decade ago, and China's own limits on U.S. imports.
The reported orders come amid sustained trade hostility between Washington and Beijing that shows no sign of easing. U.S. policy has sought to limit Nvidia's ability to export to China, yet demand for the company's GPUs has not slowed. Export-restricted Nvidia AI chips continue to reach China despite the restrictions, bypassing the Trump administration's efforts in the process.
For U.S. readers, the figures point to a market in which American export policy shapes which Nvidia products Chinese buyers can legitimately order and in what volume. The RTX Pro 5500 sits on the permitted side of that line for now, while the H200 and B300 remain out of reach for Chinese customers. Neither Nvidia nor the Chinese companies have confirmed the order figures on the record.
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