China responds to tariffs with antitrust investigations of Google, Nvidia

Given new urgency to launch the probe, SAMR regulators visited Google’s Beijing office in January before Trump came into office and demanded related information to be handed over, according to the people.

The outgoing Biden administration also used its final months to step up export controls on advanced chips, seeking to curb China’s growing AI capabilities.

During this period, SAMR announced in December it was investigating claims about Nvidia violating commitments made during its 2019 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, an Israeli company that makes computer networking equipment.

SAMR approved the acquisition in 2020 with conditions to prevent anti-competitive practices and ensure supplies to China, and soon thereafter began to quietly collect complaints from industry, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The probe came as a surprise to Nvidia, the world’s largest maker of advanced AI semiconductors.

Days before the SAMR announcement, Nvidia’s executives met officials at China’s Ministry of Commerce to discuss the $2.9 trillion chipmaker’s operations in its second-biggest market outside the US, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting.

One of those people said the commerce officials advised: “Nvidia is welcome to continue growing its business in China.” The country represented 13 percent of its global sales during the first three-quarters of 2024, according to company filings.

The antitrust investigations into large US tech companies could lead to fines linked to the companies’ global revenues, or losing certain market access in one of their largest international markets.

China is Intel’s largest market worldwide, surpassing the US. The California-based chipmaker recorded $15.5 billion sales in the country in 2024, accounting for 29 percent of its global revenue, according to company filings.

While Google’s search engine is blocked in China, along with most of its parent company Alphabet’s businesses, the US company profits from Chinese businesses advertising abroad. Chinese phonemakers also mostly use its Android operating system.

Alphabet does not break out its revenue from China, but the Asia-Pacific region contributed 17 percent of sales in 2023.

Google and Nvidia declined to comment. Intel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Beijing-based Mofcom and SAMR didn’t respond to faxed questions requesting comment outside working hours.

Additional reporting from Wenjie Ding in Beijing

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