China has accused tech giant Nvidia of violating its anti-monopoly law, in the latest escalation in its trade war against the United States that has claimed the chipmaker as collateral damage.
Shares for Nvidia fell around 0.2% in after-hours trading.
Chinese regulators announced the results of their preliminary antitrust probe while the U.S. and China were holding talks in Spain this week, led by U.S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
According to Reuters, analysts have said this move will give China leverage as the trade talks continue.
The two countries have been at odds since U.S. President Donald Trump slammed China with massive tariffs, before lowering them to 30% and threatened to shut down TikTok. China then responded with 10% tariffs and antitrust probes against Alphabet's Google.
China’s targeting of Nvidia piles more uncertainty for its business in the country, which accounted for 13% of all sales last year.
“We comply with the law in all respects,” an Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement.
“We will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies as they evaluate the impact of export controls on competition in the commercial markets.”
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been vocal about the need for American firms to be allowed to sell to China, saying the artificial intelligence market in China is likely to reach US$50 billion in the next two to three years, and local players like Huawei will fill the void if American players aren’t present.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares finished 0.04% lower on Monday at US$177.75. Its market cap is US$4.32 trillion.
