China launches antitrust investigation against Nvidia

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has stated the U.S. chip giant Nvidia violated antitrust laws in its purchase of Israel's Mellanox, a move that could complicate negotiations between Beijing and Washington amid a growing tech standoff.

The SAMR revealed that a preliminary investigation found antitrust violations by Nvidia in a 2020 deal in which the company acquired Israeli Mellanox, a maker of networking solutions for data centres and servers, according to Bloomberg.

Beijing approved Nvidia’s $7 billion deal to buy Mellanox Technologies on the condition that the American corporation would not discriminate against Chinese companies in 2020. Then the US authorities restricted chip exports to China, prohibiting Nvidia from selling its advanced AI chips to Chinese companies, citing national security concerns. Nvidia modified its chips at least twice so that they could be sold in China in accordance with US requirements. In December 2024, Beijing began a review of Nvidia’s deal to acquire Mellanox.

The regulator’s preliminary decision comes weeks after the Trump administration agreed to allow Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices to sell some of their AI chips to Chinese companies. However, Beijing has since begun pressuring local firms and government agencies to avoid using Nvidia’s designs, Bloomberg notes.

The Chinese regulator did not specify what action it would take against Nvidia, saying only that the investigation would continue.

“We will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies as they evaluate the impact of export controls on competition in the commercial markets,” a company representative said.

By Khagan Isayev