ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent place over $35 billion worth of Nvidia chip orders

ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have ordered more than 3 million of Nvidia’s new RTX PRO 5500 graphics cards with a collective sticker price of over $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. 

Why it matters

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.