China halts Google antitrust probe, escalates pressure on US chipmakers

China has dropped its antitrust investigation into Google while stepping up regulatory pressure on U.S. chipmakers Nvidia and Intel, the Financial Times reported.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) ended its probe into Google’s Android operating system, which had examined the platform’s dominance among Chinese smartphone makers such as Oppo and Xiaomi. The case, launched in February over concerns about Android’s impact on domestic handset makers, has now been closed.

At the same time, Beijing is intensifying scrutiny of U.S. semiconductor firms. Regulators this week said Nvidia may have breached antitrust law during its 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, potentially exposing the company to fines ranging from 1% to 10% of its annual sales.

China has also banned local tech giants, including ByteDance and Alibaba, from purchasing Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D chips, which were developed specifically for the Chinese market.

Intel is also under pressure. The company recorded $15.5 billion in sales to China in 2024, accounting for 29% of its global revenue and making China its largest market, ahead of the United States, the FT said. Nvidia derived 13% of its global sales from China in the first three quarters of 2024, making it the company’s second-largest market.

On the other hand, the search giant's business in China is limited. Its search engine and most core services have been blocked since 2010. Revenue in the country mainly comes from advertising sold to Chinese companies targeting overseas consumers and a small cloud services operation.

Analysts told the FT the shift underscores Beijing’s strategy of narrowing enforcement to sectors where it has the most leverage in ongoing trade talks with Washington.