Beijing is considering allowing Alibaba to buy Nvidia's RTX chips, The Information reports, in what would mark a notable shift in China's handling of US-exported graphics processors.

The report, carried by CNBC TV18, centers on the possibility — not yet a confirmed decision — that Chinese regulators would permit Alibaba to proceed with purchases of Nvidia's RTX product line. RTX chips are Nvidia's consumer and workstation GPU family, distinct from the data-center accelerators that have sat at the center of US export controls since 2022.

The distinction matters. Washington's restrictions have focused on high-end AI accelerators — the H100, A100 and their successors — while RTX-branded graphics chips have generally fallen below the thresholds that trigger licensing requirements for shipment to China. Beijing, for its part, has in recent years discouraged Chinese firms from buying certain foreign chips, steering procurement toward domestic silicon as part of a broader push for self-sufficiency in advanced semiconductors.

Against that backdrop, a green light for an Alibaba purchase of RTX parts would signal flexibility on the Chinese side. Alibaba remains one of the country's largest cloud and AI computing operators, and its infrastructure buildout continues to demand large volumes of accelerators and GPUs. Whether the reported permission would extend to other Chinese buyers, or apply only to Alibaba, remains unclear from the report.

For Nvidia, the stakes are considerable. China has historically ranked among the company's largest revenue markets, and the RTX line — spanning gaming, workstation and increasingly AI-inference workloads — represents volume business that sits adjacent to the restricted data-center segment. Any clarification that keeps consumer-grade RTX silicon flowing to a major Chinese buyer would help Nvidia defend share in a market where domestic alternatives are advancing.

The report does not specify which RTX products Alibaba would acquire, in what volumes, or on what timeline. Nor does it indicate whether US authorities would need to take any further action, given that RTX chips are already shippable to China under current export rules. The operative question appears to be on the Chinese side: whether Beijing's own procurement guidance would permit a large state-adjacent tech firm to spend on US-made GPUs rather than domestic parts.

As of the report, neither Alibaba nor Nvidia has publicly confirmed the arrangement, and no Chinese regulatory statement has addressed it.

If Beijing does approve the purchases, the move would suggest that China's push for semiconductor self-sufficiency still leaves room for tactical buys of foreign hardware where domestic supply cannot meet demand — a signal that competitive dynamics in the Chinese AI chip market, and pricing pressure on local GPU vendors, may be about to shift.