China may allow Alibaba, ByteDance to buy NVIDIA chips
What's the story
The Chinese government is considering allowing companies like Alibaba and ByteDance to purchase NVIDIA's new RTX Pro 5500 chips, The Information reported. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has asked some firms about their plans for acquiring this high-end graphics processor. These inquiries included details on the quantity they plan to buy and its intended use.
Processor capabilities
What is RTX Pro 5500?
The RTX Pro 5500 is primarily a graphics and simulation processor, but it also has some capabilities for AI services.
Unlike NVIDIA's top-tier accelerators like the GB300 series, the RTX Pro 5500 is based on older-generation technology.
It has been specifically designed to provide large-scale workstation computation.
Chip scarcity
Chinese AI developers rely on NVIDIA for training models
Chinese AI developers depend on NVIDIA for training cutting-edge large language models. However, they are dealing with a constant shortage of advanced AI chips.
To overcome this challenge, these developers often use a combination of semiconductors from both international and domestic suppliers.
The US government recently lifted export restrictions on certain NVIDIA chips. However, these are mostly older-generation models that have been sold in limited quantities.