China investigates NVIDIA for alleged antitrust violations

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) of China announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into NVIDIA, suspecting the American chipmaker of violating China’s antitrust laws during its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. NVIDIA is a leading technology company specializing in graphics processing units (GPUs) and artificial intelligence technologies, while Mellanox Technologies, based in Israel, focuses on high-performance networking solutions. The announcement comes amid heightened tensions in the semiconductor industry. Last Monday, the United States added 140 Chinese semiconductor-related companies to its Entity List, imposing new sanctions on the Chinese semiconductor equipment sector and restricting access to key U.S.-made components and tools for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. [TechNode reporting, SAMR’s announcement, in Chinese]