China targets Google, Nvidia and Intel as Trump tariffs bite

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China has revived Google and Nvidia’s anti -monopoly investigations, while considering a new investigation against Intel, as Beijing is looking for influence in talks with US President Donald Trump.
The Chinese state administration to organize the market Declare On Tuesday, I opened an investigation into the competition in Google, which said two people familiar with this issue will focus on the dominance of the Android operating system in the American group and any damage that caused Chinese audio makers, such as Oppo and Xiaomi, which uses the program.
Two people were aware of the situation, that the Chinese organizers, who announced a similar investigation to combat monopoly in NVIDIA in December, were now looking to launch an official Intel.
However, the nature of the investigation into the American chip maker remained unclear. Relations between the United States and China. President Xi Jinping is expected to speak to Trump in the coming days.
Technical investigations “may be part of the revenge measures”, which were conducted by China in response to The new Trump tariff Against the country, Liu Shaw, a researcher at the National Institute of Strategy at the University of Tsinghwa.
Shaw added that the use of investigations to combat monopoly as a tool in commercial negotiations may not be the best way to protect Chinese companies that reach American definitions. “It will inevitably be controversial,” he said.
Beijing’s stampede comes to build issues against prominent American technology companies, as they are increasingly arrested in an exchange of fire Increasing tensions Between the two global powers.
The Google probe, which the organizers first began in 2019, was suspended for years, but it was reopened in December, according to two people familiar with this issue. The move came before Trump was right as an American president, who was running an electoral campaign pledged to impose a sharp tariff against Chinese goods.
Looking at a new urgency to launch the investigation, the SAMR organizers visited the Beijing office in Google in January before Trump started his position and demanded the delivery of relevant information, according to the people.
The outgoing Biden administration has also used its last most famous to increase export controls on advanced chips, and seeks to reduce the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence in China.
During this period, SAMR announced in December that it was investigating NVIDIA claims that violate the obligations that were submitted during the acquisition of Mellanox Technologies for 2019, an Israeli company that manufactures computer network equipment.
Samr agreed to acquire in 2020 with conditions to prevent anti -competition practices and ensure supplies to China, and a short time later I started collecting complaints quietly from industry, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The investigation was a surprise NafidiaThe world’s largest manufacturer of advanced AI connectors.
Days before Samr announced, NVIDIA executives met with Chinese Ministry of Commerce officials to discuss the operations of the 2.9 trillion dance maker in its second largest market outside the United States, according to two people aware of the meeting.
One of these people said that trade officials advised: “Nafidia is welcome to continue to develop its business in China.” The country represented 13 percent of its global sales during the first three quarters of 2024, according to the company’s files.
Investigations in combating monopoly in large American technology companies can lead to fines associated with the revenues of international companies, or the loss of some market access in one of their largest international markets.
China is the largest market in Intel all over the world, bypassing the United States. California -based chip maker recorded $ 15.5 billion in sales in the country 2024It represents 29 percent of its global revenues, according to the company’s files.
While the Google search engine was banned in China, along with most of its mother company Alphabet, the American company takes advantage of Chinese companies announcing abroad. Chinese audio makers also use Android operating system.
Alphabet does not explode its revenues from China, but the Asia Pacific region contributed 17 percent of sales in 2023.
Google and Nvidia refused to comment. Intel did not immediately respond to suspension requests. MFCOM and SAMR, based in Beijing, did not respond to the questions sent that requests the comment outside of working hours.
Additional reports from Winji Ding in Beijing
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2025-02-04 13:21:00