Nvidia is expected to deliver only a small fraction of the RTX Pro 5500 workstation GPUs ordered by Chinese technology giants, according to a Bloomberg report. Unnamed sources told the publication that only tens of thousands of units, representing roughly 1% of the total demand, will be shipped over the next few months.
Chinese firms including ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent have placed massive orders for the hardware. While earlier reports suggested orders for over 3 million GPUs totaled $35 billion, new data indicates the total value of orders has risen to $70 billion. The RTX Pro 5500 is priced at $11,000 per unit.
The RTX Pro 5500 has become a critical component for Chinese developers due to its ability to bypass U.S. export restrictions. While flagship gaming GPUs like the RTX 5090 and enterprise-grade AI chips like the H200 and B300 face shipment limits, the RTX Pro 5500 can be shipped to China without restriction. The workstation card features the same CUDA core count as the RTX 5090 but includes a boosted 84GB GDDR7 memory capacity.
Nvidia has reportedly halted production of the RTX 5090 to focus on its enterprise AI base. Chinese developers expect an initial batch of several thousand RTX Pro 5500 units by the end of 2026. Total deliveries are expected to reach 700,000 units by the end of 2027 as production scales, though these figures remain subject to change.
An Nvidia spokesman declined to comment on specific shipment numbers but criticized the regulatory environment. The company stated that "outdated U.S. export controls, which cover gaming products released nearly half a decade ago" continue to restrict shipments, alongside limitations imposed by China on U.S. imports.
