The American chip company Nvidia is currently facing growing regulatory pressure in China after the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced on Monday the preliminary results of an antitrust investigation suggesting that the company may have violated the country’s competition laws. Although the authority did not provide specific details about the alleged infractions, it confirmed that the investigation began last December and is part of a broader process to determine whether Nvidia has complied with the conditions it agreed to when it received approval in 2020 to acquire the Israeli chip design firm Mellanox.
Among those conditions, Nvidia pledged not to forcibly bundle different products in its commercial offerings, to avoid imposing terms and conditions considered unreasonable, and to refrain from applying discriminatory practices against customers who choose to purchase products separately. According to sources in the technology sector cited by local media, the Chinese government suspects that Nvidia may have used its dominant market position to hinder local competition, taking advantage of its leadership in supplying high-performance processors for artificial intelligence applications, a field considered strategic by both China and the United States.
Some international analysts have interpreted this investigation as possible retaliation for the restrictions Washington has imposed in recent years on the export of advanced technology to the People’s Republic, aiming to curb its development in critical areas such as artificial intelligence and the military sector. If violations of antitrust laws are confirmed, Nvidia could face fines of up to ten percent of its sales made in China during the previous year — a figure that would represent a considerable economic blow given that the company generated around 17 billion dollars in revenue from the Chinese market in 2024 alone.
So far, the company has not issued an official statement in response to the accusations, while SAMR has indicated that the investigation is ongoing and could extend for several months before reaching a final resolution. This case is being closely watched by global markets and could become a new point of tension in the already complex trade and technological relationship between Beijing and Washington.
