NVIDIA holds a dominant position in the graphics card market, with its GeForce RTX series leading in both recreational and professional segments. It also commands a significant share of the rapidly expanding Artificial Intelligence and server markets. This overwhelming market dominance has attracted the attention of antitrust authorities.
Antitrust Investigation by China
The Chinese government is now investigating NVIDIA for possible violations of its anti-monopoly laws. The probe centers around NVIDIA’s practices that allegedly exploit its dominant market position. One key issue is linked to NVIDIA’s acquisition of Mellanox in 2020. According to the investigation, the company may have failed to adhere to the conditions set by Chinese regulators to approve the deal.
Alleged Breach of Regulatory Conditions
As part of the acquisition approval, NVIDIA was required to sell GPU accelerators to the Chinese market in a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory manner. Other stipulations prohibited NVIDIA from creating bundled offers to reduce prices or penalizing customers who purchased products from NVIDIA and Mellanox separately. Chinese regulators have yet to provide specific details on the alleged violations but continue to scrutinize the company’s actions. Given the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S., this legal action could also be seen as a strategic move against an American tech giant already facing restrictions on advanced chip sales to China.
