NVIDIA, under investigation!

【Lead】NVIDIA Accused of Violating Anti-monopoly Law, State Administration for Market Regulation Decides to Investigate

On the evening of December 9, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a document stating that it had recently decided to investigate NVIDIA due to its alleged violation of the Antimonopoly Law of the People's Republic of China and the Announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on the Imposition of Restrictive Conditions on the Approval of NVIDIA Corporation's Acquisition of the Equity of Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Antimonopoly Review Decision) (No. 16 of the State Administration for Market Regulation, 2020). The State Administration for Market Regulation has decided to investigate NVIDIA in accordance with the law.

NVIDIA's acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Mellanox) was one of the top ten cases of antimonopoly enforcement in 2020 released by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

On March 10, 2019, the parties to the transaction signed an agreement, in which NVIDIA planned to acquire all the shares of Mellanox. After the concentration, Mellanox became a wholly-owned subsidiary of NVIDIA.

NVIDIA's acquisition of Mellanox's equity case involves five related goods markets, including graphics processor accelerators, dedicated network interconnection devices, high-speed Ethernet adapters, etc.

On April 24, 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation received the above acquisition's antimonopoly filing.

On April 16, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation's website issued a document stating that after reviewing, the State Administration for Market Regulation decided to approve the above transaction with restrictive conditions.

The State Administration for Market Regulation believes that the above transaction may have an exclusionary or restrictive effect on the global and Chinese GPU accelerators, dedicated network interconnection devices, high-speed Ethernet adapters markets. In April 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation approved the above transaction with restrictive conditions in accordance with the law.

Mellanox was established in Israel in 1999 and listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in the United States. It mainly engages in the research, production and sales of network interconnection products.

NVIDIA was established in the United States in 1998 and listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in the United States. It mainly engages in the research, production and sales of graphics processors.

At 9:00 p.m. Beijing time on December 9, NVIDIA's pre-market price fell 2.20% to US$139.31/share.