China has concluded that NVIDIA violated the antimonopoly law and decided to conduct an additional investigation.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 15th, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), China's antimonopoly body, said on its website that a preliminary inquiry found indications that NVIDIA violated the antimonopoly law. Accordingly, the authorities decided to carry out an additional investigation into NVIDIA. However, they did not mention the specific grounds for the violation.
Earlier, in December last year, the authorities launched an antimonopoly probe, saying NVIDIA violated its standards during the process of acquiring Mellanox Technologies, an Israeli computer networking equipment manufacturer, in 2019. The probe was interpreted as a retaliatory measure against U.S. semiconductor curbs on China. According to Reuters, corporations that violate China's antimonopoly law can be fined about 1% to 10% of the previous year's annual sales.
Meanwhile, the announcement came as high-level U.S.-China trade talks were set to begin. The talks are expected to put issues such as antimonopoly sanctions on NVIDIA and semiconductor exports and imports on the negotiating table.