Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into US-based chipmaker Nvidia over alleged anti-competitive behaviour.
According to Chinese state media, Nvidia is being probed for suspected violation of the country’s anti-monopoly law and a decision by the market regulator on Nvidia’s acquisition of Mellanox Technologies.
The investigation was launched in accordance with the law, said the State Administration for Market Regulation.
Established in 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation is China’s primary anti-trust regulator.
The probe into Nvidia comes amid simmering trade tensions between the US and China, the world’s largest economies.
Reuters reports that the investigation comes after the US last week launched its third crackdown in three years on China’s semiconductor industry, which saw Washington curb exports to 140 companies, including chip equipment makers.
According to CNN, the US fears that China could use artificial intelligence (AI) to gain a military advantage, and US Commerce Department officials said they believed the restrictions would slow China’s development of AI chips.
A Nvidia spokesperson tells ITWeb via e-mail: “Nvidia wins on merit, as reflected in our benchmark results and value to customers, and customers can choose whatever solution is best for them.
“We work hard to provide the best products we can in every region and honour our commitments everywhere we do business. We are happy to answer any questions regulators may have about our business.”
The company designs and supplies graphics processing units, application programming interfaces for data science and high-performance computing, as well as system on a chip unit for mobile computing and the automotive market. Nvidia is also a dominant supplier of AI hardware and software.
In 2020, the semiconductor maker announced it had received approval from all necessary authorities to proceed with its planned acquisition of Mellanox.
It said the approval by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation followed anti-trust approval from the European Commission and Mexico, and the expiration of the waiting period under US anti-trust laws.
On 11 March 2019, Nvidia announced its intention to acquire Israel-based Mellanox for $125 per share in cash, or $6.9 billion, in a transaction that would combine Nvidia’s computing expertise with Mellanox’s high-performance interconnect technology.