Beijing regulators have delivered what may be the world’s least surprising plot twist: Nvidia, the Silicon Valley graphics-chip colossus, has been found guilty of violating China’s anti-monopoly law. Apparently, cornering the market on the technology powering both TikTok filters and tomorrow’s robot overlords was a bit too blatant, even for a country where actual monopolies are often referred to as “state-owned enterprises.”
The decision comes after months of investigation, during which Nvidia executives reportedly explained that their market dominance was just a “happy accident,” like spilling gasoline and discovering fire. Officials were not amused. Sources say fines are likely, though given Nvidia’s soaring stock price, the company may end up paying in pocket lint and spare GPU fans.
Analysts predict Nvidia will keep selling chips in China anyway, because nothing screams “anti-monopoly enforcement” quite like letting a convicted monopolist continue business as usual, just slightly more sheepishly.
