By Eduardo Baptista and Liam Mo
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s market regulator on Monday said that a preliminary investigation had found that U.S. chip giant Nvidia had violated the country’s anti-monopoly law.
The brief statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation did not elaborate on how the U.S. company, known for its artificial intelligence and gaming chips, might have violated China’s anti-monopoly laws.
China in December launched an investigation into Nvidia over what it said were suspected violations of the country’s anti-monopoly law, a probe that was widely seen as a retaliatory shot against Washington’s curbs on the Chinese chip sector.
The Chinese regulator also said the U.S. chipmaker was also suspected of violating commitments it made during its acquisition of Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies, under terms outlined in its 2020 conditional approval of that deal.
The SAMR on Monday added that it would continue its investigations. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to China’s antitrust law, companies can face fines of between 1% and 10% of their annual sales from the previous year. China generated $17 billion in revenue for Nvidia in the fiscal year ending January 26, or 13% of total sales, based on its latest annual report.
The Chinese market regulator’s announcement comes as the U.S. and China hold trade talks in Madrid where chips including the ones made by Nvidia are expected to be on the agenda.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Sharon Singleton)
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