China’s internet regulator has ordered its biggest tech companies to stop buying Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, tightening the screws on the American chipmaker and adding another layer to the U.S.-China tech rivalry.
- •According to the Financial Times, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) instructed firms such as ByteDance- TikTok’s parent company- and e-commerce giant Alibaba to cancel orders and halt testing of Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D, a chip designed specifically for the Chinese market.
- •Shares of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, fell 2.6% in New York by midday on Wednesday.
- •China accounted for roughly 13% of Nvidia’s sales last year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, speaking in London on Wednesday, said he was “disappointed” by the decision but suggested the dispute reflects broader geopolitics.
“We can only be in service of a market if the country wants us to be. They have larger agendas to work out between China and the United States, and I’m patient about it.”
Beijing’s message to its tech champions is clear: stop leaning on American chips and start betting on homegrown alternatives. Regulators recently concluded that domestic processors had reached- or even exceeded- the performance of Nvidia’s China-only chips. Firms like Huawei and Cambricon have been summoned to show their progress, signaling the government’s confidence that the local ecosystem can now hold its own.
“The message is now loud and clear,” one industry executive told reporters. “It’s all hands on deck to build the domestic system.”
The ban follows a Chinese probe accusing Nvidia of antitrust violations tied to its earlier H20 chip. Even so, demand for Nvidia’s hardware remains sky-high around the world as companies scramble to secure computing power for AI.
Nvidia has been ramping up its lobbying in Washington to stay ahead of these shifting policies. The company spent nearly US$ 1.9 million on lobbying in just the first half of 2025- three times what it spent in all of last year.
For now, Nvidia finds itself in a tight spot- caught between Washington’s national security rules and Beijing’s drive for technological sovereignty, all while trying to reassure investors and hold on to its place at the center of the global AI race.