China has dropped an antitrust investigation into Google, which was related to the dominance of the Android operating system in the smartphone market and its influence on local manufacturers such as OPPO and Xiaomi, the Financial Times reported.
The decision comes amid ongoing talks between the US and China, which are discussing TikTok, NVIDIA, tariffs, and broader trade relations between the countries.
Although Google's search engine, Gmail, YouTube and Maps remain blocked in China, the company continues to make money in the country through cloud services and advertising aimed at overseas markets. According to the FT, relieving pressure on Google is more of a tactical move, as Beijing is now actively using regulatory mechanisms against NVIDIA as leverage in negotiations with the US.
Over the summer, NVIDIA reached an agreement with the Trump administration to supply China with simplified H20 GPUs, on condition that 15% of the profits be transferred to the US government. However, Beijing soon began to discourage local companies from buying these chips, and later completely banned the purchase of the new RTX Pro 6000D AI processor, designed specifically for the Chinese market.
Chinese regulators have also accused NVIDIA of violating antitrust laws in its acquisition of chipmaker Mellanox. If found guilty, the company could face a fine of between 1% and 10% of its global sales for 2024.
Negotiations between the US and Chinese delegations recently concluded in Madrid after three days. US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss a possible deal for TikTok in the near future. Under this scenario, control of the US unit of TikTok would be transferred to local companies, who would receive about 80% of the shares of the new structure.