(Bloomberg) — China has opened a probe into Nvidia Corp. over suspicions that the US chipmaker broke anti-monopoly laws around a 2020 deal, taking aim at the AI heavyweight as Washington ramps up sanctions.
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The State Administration for Market Regulation opened an investigation into the company’s recent behavior as well as the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd., the government said in a statement on Monday. Beijing gave approval for the deal four years ago, on condition that Nvidia not discriminate against Chinese companies.
The move against Nvidia is Beijing’s latest riposte to escalating US technology curbs, coming just a week after the Chinese government banned exports of several materials with tech and military applications. Nvidia’s market value has ballooned this year on demand for chips that can run artificial intelligence programs, making it one of the most valuable publicly traded companies and China’s largest corporate target in the tech trade war so far.
In a statement, Nvidia said that it’s “happy to answer any questions regulators may have about our business.”
“Nvidia wins on merit, as reflected in our benchmark results and value to customers, and customers can choose whatever solution is best for them,” the Santa Clara, California-based company said. “We work hard to provide the best products we can in every region and honor our commitments everywhere we do business.”
China had approved Nvidia’s $7 billion acquisition of Mellanox in 2020, but stipulated that the Israeli computer networking equipment maker provide information about new products to rivals within 90 days of making them available to Nvidia.
Nvidia gets about 15% of its revenue from customers in China, according to its most recent financial report.
Shares of Nvidia fell as much as 3.7% to $137.13 on Monday in New York trading. They had been up 188% this year through the end of last week.
Washington has sought to slow China’s development of advanced chip technology and has barred Nvidia from selling its most advanced semiconductors to companies there. The US has also pushed allies to make similar moves. The Biden administration pressured the Dutch government to prevent ASML Holding NV, which has a monopoly on machines that make the most advanced chips, from not only selling its highest-performing equipment to China, but repairing and maintaining it as well.
