China says Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law after preliminary probe

China is one of Nvidia's largest markets, particularly for data centers, gaming and artificial intelligence applications. China's market regulator on Monday said that Nvidia violated the country's anti-monopoly law, according to a preliminary probe, adding that Beijing would continue its investigation into the U.S. chip giant. Shares of Nvidia were down around 2% in premarket trading. Late last year, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) opened an investigation into Nvidia in relation to the acquisition of Mellanox and some agreements made during the acquisition. Nvidia acquired the Israeli technology company that creates network solutions for data centers and servers in 2020, in a deal that was approved by China at the time with certain conditions. In a preliminary investigation, the SAMR said Nvidia had violated China's anti-monopoly laws in relation to that acquisition and its conditions. China's market regulator did not specify how Nvidia allegedly breached the country's laws. CNBC has reached out to Nvidia for comment.