China on Monday accused Nvidia of violating the nation’s antimonopoly legal guidelines and mentioned it might step up scrutiny of the world’s prime chipmaker, heightening tensions with Washington as the 2 nations meet for commerce talks this week.
Chinese language regulators mentioned they might perform “additional investigation” into Nvidia after a preliminary investigation discovered that the corporate breached rules when it acquired community and information transmission firm Mellanox for $6.9 billion in 2020.
Nvidia did not reply instantly to a request for remark.
China’s regulators had mentioned final 12 months that they have been trying into suspected violations linked to the Mellanox acquisition. Shares of Nvidia declined $2.81, or 1.6%, to $175.01 in premarket buying and selling on Monday.
The choice ratchets up strain on the U.S. as officers from Washington maintain commerce talks in Spain with Beijing’s representatives, and follows different strikes by Beijing to extend scrutiny of the U.S. chip trade.
Antidumping investigation
On Saturday, China’s Ministry of Commerce mentioned it was finishing up an antidumping investigation into sure analog IC chips imported from the U.S., together with commodity chips generally made by firms reminiscent of Texas Devices and ON Semiconductor.
The ministry additionally introduced a separate antidiscrimination probe into U.S. measures towards China’s chip sector.
In talks scheduled to run from Sunday to Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is assembly Chinese language Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid for negotiations on tariffs and nationwide safety points associated to the possession of social media platform TikTok.
It is the fourth spherical of discussions after conferences in London, Geneva and Stockholm. The 2 governments have agreed to a number of 90-day pauses on a sequence of accelerating reciprocal tariffs, staving off an all-out commerce warfare.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia, the world’s most useful semiconductor maker, has grow to be central to the U.S.-China commerce warfare, as the 2 sides battle for tech supremacy.
The corporate has confronted restrictions on chip exports to China imposed by President Joe Biden’s administration that have been then bolstered by President Donald Trump.