China says Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law after preliminary probe (www.cnbc.com)

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said in a preliminary probe that Nvidia violated the country’s anti‑monopoly law in connection with its 2020 acquisition of Mellanox, the Israeli maker of high‑performance networking gear for data centers and servers. SAMR opened the investigation late last year to review the deal and related agreements; the deal was originally approved by China in 2020 with conditions. Nvidia shares slipped about 2% in premarket trading after the update, and SAMR said the probe will continue. The finding is significant for the AI/ML ecosystem because Mellanox’s networking technology is integral to high‑throughput, low‑latency data center interconnects used in large‑scale model training and inference. Continued scrutiny or remedies could reshape competitive dynamics in data‑center networking, affect supply‑chain predictability for cloud providers and AI labs, and set precedent for enforcement of merger conditions on cross‑border chip and infrastructure deals. The announcement also comes amid rising tech tensions—China has launched separate semiconductor probes and the timing may complicate U.S.–China trade talks—highlighting how geopolitical regulatory action can directly influence AI hardware access and corporate M&A strategy.