China Weighs Allowing Nvidia Chip Sales to Alibaba and ByteDance

Nvidia's stock is set to react on Monday after a report emerged that China may allow Alibaba and ByteDance to buy its powerful RTX PRO 5500 cards. The move could provide a boost to Nvidia's sales, as Chinese AI firms are reportedly short of computing power for their chatbots and agents.

The chips in question are designed for professional computers and are not part of the data-center hardware that was previously targeted by US export curbs. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has asked Alibaba and ByteDance how many cards they want to buy, but neither Beijing nor the companies have confirmed the plan.

Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang had previously stated that the company would only be in service if the country wants them to be. The company's forecast for the current quarter assumes no China data-center chip revenue, and any sales there would come on top of that outlook.