Nvidia violated antimonopoly laws, China says
By KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writer
LONDON (AP) — China accused Nvidia on Monday of violating the country’s antimonopoly laws and said it would step up scrutiny of the world’s leading chipmaker, escalating tensions with Washington as the two countries held trade talks this week.
Chinese regulators said a preliminary investigation found that Nvidia didn’t comply with conditions imposed when it purchased Mellanox Technologies, a network and data transmission company.
The one-sentence statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation statement did not mention any punishment, but said it would carry out “further investigation.”
An Nvidia spokesperson said, “We comply with the law in all respects. We will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies as they evaluate the impact of export controls on competition in the commercial markets.”
Regulators said in December that they were investigating the company for suspected violations stemming from the $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox. The deal was completed in 2020 after the Chinese regulator gave conditional approval for Nvidia to buy the Israeli company.