China’s MIIT queries Alibaba and ByteDance on Nvidia workstation card demand

China’s technology regulator has reportedly asked Alibaba and ByteDance to specify how many of Nvidia’s new RTX PRO 5500 workstation cards they want to buy, a signal Beijing may loosen restrictions on the chipmaker for the first time since last year’s ban. The report lands as Nvidia shares, which closed Sunday (September 27) at $225.07, face their first market reaction Wednesday (September 30).

• China’s MIIT asked Alibaba and ByteDance how many RTX PRO 5500 cards they want and why
• Nvidia’s $108 billion revenue forecast for the current quarter assumes zero China data-center chip sales
• All 31 analysts tracked by TipRanks rate NVDA a buy with an average target of $324.32

• $225.07 Nvidia’s Friday close, the base price Monday’s reaction will be measured against
• $108B Nvidia’s quarterly revenue guidance, which already excludes any China data-center chip sales
• 2.6% the stock’s one-day drop after China’s September 2025 chip-buying ban
• $324.32 the average Wall Street price target, versus Friday’s $225.07 close

Nvidia may be edging back into China’s professional computing market, according to BeInCrypto’s reporting on The Information’s Sunday story. The outlet, citing two people familiar with the matter, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has queried Alibaba and ByteDance about demand for the RTX PRO 5500, a card built for high-end workstations rather than the data-center clusters Washington has restricted.

MIIT queries demand for the RTX PRO 5500 card

The RTX PRO 5500 carries 84 GB of memory and draws up to 600 watts, and Nvidia markets it for AI agents, AI inference and simulation work rather than large-scale model training. Because it is classified as a workstation part, it falls outside the data-center chips that have been the focus of US export controls aimed at China.

Neither Beijing nor Alibaba nor ByteDance has confirmed the reported inquiry. The Information’s account, relayed on X by trader Evan of StockMKTNewz, describes only a request for order volumes and justification, not an approved purchase.

Chinese AI developers have been short of computing power for chatbots and AI agents, the report said, a gap domestic suppliers have not fully closed. Huawei and Cambricon together hold nearly 80% of China’s AI server market, according to analysts cited in the reporting, while newer entrant Enflame made its Shanghai debut this month.

Nvidia’s $108 billion forecast already assumes zero China revenue

Nvidia has told investors its $108 billion revenue guidance for the current quarter includes no China data-center chip sales, so any RTX PRO 5500 orders that materialize would land on top of that figure rather than inside it. That framing limits the reported news to modest upside rather than a shift in Nvidia’s base case.

The last major China headline moved the stock the other way. Beijing told domestic firms to stop buying Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D in September 2025, and NVDA fell 2.6% that day.

I think that we could only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO

Trump-Xi summit and Greer’s export remarks precede the report

Sunday’s report follows President Donald Trump’s hosting of Xi Jinping in Washington and comments from US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who said national security export controls were taken “off the table,” according to the Korea Times. Nvidia shares have already swung on China-related headlines this month, including after a reported call between Trump and Huang.

The Information’s report does not say how many RTX PRO 5500 cards China would permit or when a decision might come. It also gives no indication that larger data-center chips would follow the same path.

The BlockWest read. The workstation-only scope matters more than the headline. Allowing RTX PRO 5500 sales while keeping data-center chips restricted lets Beijing ease a compute bottleneck for Alibaba and ByteDance without reopening the larger market Washington still polices. For Nvidia’s balance sheet, this looks like incremental upside layered on an already-conservative $108 billion forecast, not a reversal of the China ban.

Monday’s (September 30) open will show whether traders treat the report as confirmation of a policy shift or, absent comment from Beijing, Alibaba or ByteDance, as an unverified signal alongside a stock already trading near Yahoo Finance’s tracked levels well below the average $324.32 analyst target.

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