Nvidia’s promotional store on China’s biggest e-commerce site has become the centre of speculation over whether the US tech giant will pull back from China after being targeted by Beijing in an antitrust investigation.
Nvidia’s GeForce store on Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall e-commerce platform opened in 2016, and now has over 123,000 followers. The homepage provides links to sellers offering video game laptops equipped with GeForce graphics cards, but the Nvidia store does not sell products directly. According to Nvidia’s website, GeForce graphics processing units (GPUs), first introduced in 1999, target video gaming and general-purpose users.
After Nvidia became the target of a Beijing antitrust investigation this week, some Chinese netizens posted comments on social media, wondering if the US company had deliberately removed items from the shop.
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However, Nvidia said in a statement that the Tmall store never stocked inventory. A third-party e-commerce analyst, after reviewing the shop’s sales record, said that it has no transaction records.
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Nvidia products on display at an exhibition in Taiwan. Photo: Digitimes alt=Nvidia products on display at an exhibition in Taiwan. Photo: Digitimes>
The attention on Nvidia’s Tmall presence comes at a time when there are fresh questions being raised about the company’s future prospects in China.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on Monday that it has initiated an antitrust investigation into Nvidia related to its 2019 acquisition of Israeli interconnect products and solutions provider Mellanox Technologies. Experts said the probe could result in a US$1 billion fine if the company is found to be in violation of antitrust laws.
Nvidia said in a statement on Weibo that China remains as an important market and it will continue to provide the best quality products and services to China-based clients.
Nvidia has restricted exports of its advanced GPUs to China to comply with US regulations, an act that displeased Beijing. The investigation into a previously-approved transaction marks the first time that China’s market regulator has opened the books on a closed deal.
Separately, Nvidia has added hundreds of staff in China to boost autonomous driving technologies, Bloomberg News reported. Nvidia will add about 200 people in Beijing to strengthen a team of researchers working on self-driving, the report said.
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