China is intensifying its crackdown on American chip imports by opening an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm and deploying customs officials to ports to inspect Nvidia processors.
On Friday, China’s market regulator announced it is looking into whether Qualcomm’s purchase of the Israeli chipmaker Autotalks infringes on antitrust laws.
As a result, shares of Qualcomm, based in San Diego, fell by 1.3% during morning trading.
Qualcomm, which supplies smartphone chips to major Chinese firms like Xiaomi, has owned Autotalks since June, about two years after the acquisition was first revealed.
A spokesperson for Qualcomm mentioned that they are cooperating with the investigation led by Chinese regulators.
According to the spokesperson, “Qualcomm is committed to assisting our customers and partners in their development and growth.”
This investigation follows claims made in September by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation that Nvidia breached antitrust laws with its acquisition of Mellanox, aimed at improving the efficiency of its data centers.
In recent weeks, it seems that China is ramping up its scrutiny of Nvidia’s chip imports, which are overseen by CEO Jensen Huang.
Customs officials from China are reportedly being sent to various ports nationwide to examine shipments of semiconductors, as noted by sources familiar with the situation.
On Friday, China also declared it would begin imposing fees on U.S. ships docking at Chinese ports, regardless of whether they carry microchips, effective October 14, coinciding with the start of U.S. port fees to China.
China’s Ministry of Transportation criticized the U.S. fees for significantly violating global trade norms and damaging U.S.-China maritime relations.
Domestically, Chinese regulators are allegedly urging companies to refrain from ordering Nvidia chips specifically designed to navigate stricter export regulations.
Nvidia’s H20 and RTX Pro 6000D models are considered less advanced versions of the chips available in the United States, modified to comply with new U.S. guidelines limiting exports of high-performance chips due to concerns over China’s position in the AI race.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is focused on boosting its AI technology and decreasing reliance on U.S. imports.
Customs officials in China are inspecting all semiconductor shipments to find advanced chips possibly smuggled in defiance of U.S. export restrictions.
This development starkly contrasts with earlier this year when China reportedly imported over $1 billion worth of Nvidia’s top-tier AI chips from May onwards, circumventing U.S. rules.
A representative from Nvidia declined to comment on the situation.
Although there were plans for a face-to-face meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea later this month, doubts about those plans were voiced by U.S. officials recently.
China appears to be contemplating increasing tariffs and implementing export restrictions in response to recent U.S. controls on rare earth elements, according to reports.
Additionally, there are indications that China aims to triple its advanced semiconductor production next year to compensate for the absence of Nvidia.
Chinese officials maintain that homegrown chips must meet performance benchmarks similar to those of Nvidia’s products.
The government has also initiated an investigation into a Chinese firm suspected of smuggling advanced chips from the U.S.
