13 December 2024

Nvidia is facing an antitrust investigation in China

Rocio Fabbro

The country’s State Administration for Market Regulation has launched a probe into whether Nvidia’s acquisition of Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies violated anti-monopoly laws, according to a report from China Central Television on Monday.

Shares of Nvidia fell nearly 2% in pre-market trading on Monday.

The leading artificial intelligence chipmaker bought Mellanox for $6.9 billion in 2020 after receiving conditional approval from Chinese authorities. Conditions included requirements that Nvidia and Mellanox not bundle or tie together products, continue to supply on fair terms, and ensure that chips from Chinese manufacturers worked with the technology.

Other requirements were aimed at maintaining independence between the two firms, and lessening any potential impacts of export controls amid the trade war between the U.S. and China that began in 2018 under the first Trump administration.

This comes as chip trade tensions between the two economic superpowers continue to escalate. Last week, the Department of Commerce introduced more restrictions on the sale of high-bandwidth memory and chipmaking tools to China, including tools produced by U.S. companies abroad.

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