By Barbara Kollmeyer and Emily Bary
China says Nvidia violated antitrust rules. An analyst says it’s just ‘noise’ but shows that Nvidia’s interests could be used as leverage in broader U.S.-China trade talks.
China says Nvidia has violated antitrust rules.
A lot is riding on Nvidia Corp.’s China business, which is why investors are paying attention to new signs of strain in that country.
China’s top regulatory authority said on Monday that the U.S. chip manufacturer violated the country’s antitrust rules. The heightened tension adds to Wall Street’s jitters about Nvidia’s (NVDA) ability to restart its China business after months of geopolitical turmoil.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced that following a preliminary investigation, Nvidia was found to be in breach of antitrust rules in relation to its acquisition of Israel-based networking-technology group Mellanox. SAMR “decided to conduct further investigation in accordance with the law,” it said in a brief statement.
While Nvidia shares were off as much as 1.9% earlier in the session, they pared losses and closed regular trading nearly flat.
China’s antimonopoly body last December opened an antitrust investigation into Nvidia, referring to the artificial-intelligence chip company’s acquisition of Mellanox. Nvidia announced the $6.9 billion deal in 2019, but it didn’t close until April 2020, after receiving approval from authorities in China and elsewhere.
Mizuho desk-based analyst Jordan Klein deemed China’s latest remarks “pure posturing.” While they’re mostly “noise,” in his view, he suggested Nvidia investors should still be mindful since the company’s upside potential on both revenue and earnings is partly tied to being able to restart shipments to China. Now that factor could be leverage in broader U.S.-China trade talks.
MarketWatch has reached out to Nvidia for comment.
Investors have been watching Nvidia’s dealings in China. The chip maker announced this summer that the U.S. would allow the company to sell its H20 AI chips made specifically for China to comply with export controls to that nation, after previously ushering in an effective ban on their sale.
But Chinese officials have discouraged businesses from using Nvidia’s chips, claiming they are a security risk. While Nvidia’s latest guidance struck some analysts as underwhelming due to uncertainties around when the company will be able to relaunch China sales, others have said investors are putting too much focus on its business in that country.
The report comes amid trade talks between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and top trade negotiator Li Chenggang in Madrid. Bessent said Monday that a deal to keep ByteDance’s TikTok running in the U.S. was close but also that China had made “aggressive asks,” Bloomberg reported.
The report cited a U.S. official as having said delegates from both sides came to Spain to finalize a TikTok deal but that China’s trade and security demands could derail the process. The U.S. wants the TikTok and trade-deal topics kept separate, while China wants them connected, that source reportedly said.
In addition to the Nvidia probe, China on Saturday announced an antidumping probe into some U.S.-made analog chips, such as those sold by Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), whose shares slipped 2.4% in Monday trading, and by On Semiconductor Corp. (ON), whose shares fell fractionally.
Chinese chip makers SG Micro Corp. (CN:300661) and Suzhou Novosense Microelectronics Co. Ltd. (CN:688052) jumped 20% and 10%, respectively, in local trading on Monday.
-Barbara Kollmeyer -Emily Bary
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
09-15-25 1835ET
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.