China considers letting ByteDance and Alibaba buy new Nvidia chips
Chinese regulators asked tech firms including ByteDance and Alibaba to report plans for purchasing Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 chips.
Ministry asks companies for purchase plans
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology requested that major domestic technology firms submit their purchasing intentions. The inquiry specifically targeted requests to acquire Nvidia's newly unveiled RTX Pro 5500 workstation chip. Officials are evaluating whether to approve these procurement requests as part of a potential policy shift.
Regulators signal intent to approve deals
Reports indicate that state regulators have signaled an intention to approve the companies' acquisition requests. This move could ease prior import curbs on high-end Western processing hardware for artificial intelligence workloads. Industry executives expect the new chip might avoid existing US export restrictions.
Nvidia comments on current limits
An Nvidia spokesperson stated that US firms face restrictions from outdated export controls and China's own import limits. The company noted these rules cover gaming products released nearly a half a decade ago. Neither Alibaba nor ByteDance immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the reports.
All 2 outlets report consistently
No differences in figures, names or dates across these reports.
- The News International
- Business Recorder
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2 independent outlets. Headlines as published. Links open the original report.