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China's market regulator finds preliminary NVIDIA antitrust breach over Mellanox deal
SAMR said a preliminary investigation found NVIDIA had violated the Anti-Monopoly Law in connection with conditions attached to its 2020 approval of the $6.9bn Mellanox acquisition, and that it would investigate further before deciding penalties. The review began in December 2024; the announcement landed during US–China trade talks in Madrid, alongside an anti-dumping probe into US analogue chips.
Why it matters
It gives Beijing a pending penalty lever over the leading AI-chip supplier that can be tightened or eased with the wider trade relationship.
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Connections our researchers recorded
- DevelopmentUS opens case-by-case H200 licences for China and adds 25% tariff on such chips15 Jan 2026 · Rule change · US, CNContrasts with: Washington eased H200 access while Beijing kept regulatory pressure on NVIDIA
- DevelopmentChina's internet regulator summons NVIDIA over alleged security risks in H20 chips31 Jul 2025 · Enforcement or ruling · CN, USFollows from: Second Chinese regulatory action against NVIDIA in seven weeks
What led here
Earlier developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentStargate UAE: 1GW OpenAI cluster planned in Abu Dhabi, first 200MW due in 202622 May 2025 · Deal · AE, US
- DevelopmentUS scraps AI Diffusion Rule and warns against using Huawei Ascend chips13 May 2025 · Rule change · US, CN
- DevelopmentDeepSeek releases R1 reasoning model with open weights under MIT licence20 Jan 2025 · Model release · CN
What happened next
Later developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentHuawei sets yearly Ascend AI-chip roadmap and 8,192-chip Atlas 950 SuperPoD18 Sep 2025 · Launch · CN
- DevelopmentChina adds extraterritorial rare-earth export controls, then pauses them to Nov 20269 Oct 2025 · Rule change · CN, US
- DevelopmentNVIDIA restarts H200 production after Chinese orders and first US licence17 Mar 2026 · Deal · CN, US
- DevelopmentUS charges Supermicro co-founder over alleged $2.5bn Nvidia-server diversion to China19 Mar 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · US, CN
Rules in play
Laws and guidance this touches
- RuleBIS H200 case-by-case ruleUS · In force · 15 Jan 2026
Threads by topic: Competition Chips Export controls