SANTA CLARA, Calif. — China has opened an antitrust investigation into American chipmaker Nvidia, the world’s largest provider of processors that power artificial intelligence, according to Chinese state media.
The probe serves as the latest escalation of a growing battle for AI dominance, which both the United States and China believe is crucial for national security.
China Central Television in a report Monday said the Chinese government believes Nvidia’s purchase of Israeli networking company Mellanox could violate the country’s anti-monopoly laws, though the report did not specify what the merger did to potentially break the law. China approved the acquisition in 2020.
Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell less than 2% in premarket trading Monday. The stock is among the hottest on the market, surging nearly 200% this year as the AI boom has fueled demand for the company’s chips. Its market value is more than $3 trillion, second only to Apple.
The tit-for-tat China-US chip …