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Why China Is Investigating Nvidia: The Mellanox Antitrust Case

China’s case against Nvidia concerns both the Anti-Monopoly Law and commitments tied to its Mellanox acquisition. SAMR reported preliminary findings in 2025 and ordered a further investigation, but the available sources do not establish a final outcome.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read
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China opened an antitrust investigation into Nvidia in December 2024 over suspected violations of the country’s Anti-Monopoly Law and conditions attached to Nvidia’s 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. On September 15, 2025, China’s market regulator said a preliminary investigation found violations and announced a further investigation. That was not a final penalty: the public sources available as of October 8, 2026, do not establish a final disposition.

Why is China investigating Nvidia?

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) is examining whether Nvidia breached the conditions imposed when China approved its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. SAMR announced the investigation on December 9, 2024, citing suspected violations of the Anti-Monopoly Law and suspected breaches of the transaction-specific commitments. Its initial announcement did not describe the alleged conduct. Reuters’ December 2024 report covered the opening of the case and the deal conditions.

The case therefore has two connected legal dimensions: China’s general competition law and Nvidia’s obligations under the regulator’s conditional approval of the deal. SAMR’s later notice referred to both, but did not explain which acts it considered violations.

What did the Mellanox deal require?

Nvidia completed its acquisition of Mellanox in 2020 after SAMR imposed conditions. The OECD puts the transaction value at USD 6.9 billion and describes the regulator’s concerns as involving adjacent markets, potential tying or bundling, and the risk of foreclosing competitors. Its account of the remedies includes fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory supply, interoperability, protection of third-party confidential information, organizational separation between GPU and interconnect teams, and open-source commitments. The OECD’s competition-policy account provides the broader merger-review context.

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Reuters reported more specific supply and conduct requirements: customers and distributors could buy up to a year’s inventory under the specified fair terms, and Nvidia was barred from forced bundling, unreasonable trading terms, purchase restrictions, and discrimination against customers buying products separately. These were conditions of the transaction approval, not a public description of the conduct SAMR later alleged.

What has SAMR said, and what stage is the case at?

On September 15, 2025, SAMR said that its preliminary investigation found Nvidia had violated the Anti-Monopoly Law and the conditional approval decision, and that it had decided to conduct a further investigation. The regulator’s Chinese-language notice is concise; an English translation states: “Recently, after preliminary investigation, Nvidia violated the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Announcement of the General Administration of Market Supervision on the Anti-monopoly Review Decision on the Approval of NVIDIA’s Acquisition of the Equity of Mylos Technology Co., Ltd. under Additional Restrictions, and the General Administration of Market Supervision decided to conduct further investigation into it in accordance with the law.” SAMR’s official notice does not detail the conduct or announce a sanction.

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The procedural distinction matters: a preliminary finding followed by a further investigation is not the same as a published final decision or fine. The available reporting does not establish a final outcome after SAMR’s September 2025 announcement. The Associated Press report on the announcement likewise reported no penalty at that point.

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What does Nvidia say?

After the September 2025 announcement, an Nvidia spokesperson told the Associated Press: “We comply with the law in all respects. We will continue to cooperate with all relevant government agencies as they evaluate the impact of export controls on competition in the commercial markets.” This is the company’s response, not a regulator’s conclusion about the case.

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