China’s antimonopoly regulator announced on Monday that it was investigating potential violations of antitrust law by Nvidia, the American company that makes a vast majority of the computer chips that power artificial intelligence systems.

中国反垄断监管机构周一宣布正在对美国公司英伟达可能违反反垄断法的行为展开调查，该公司生产了大部分用于驱动人工智能系统的计算机芯片。

The inquiry, a rare move by Beijing, comes a week after the Biden administration expanded curbs on the sale of advanced American technology to China. In the days since, the Chinese government announced that it would ban the export of several rare minerals to the United States and imposed sanctions on more than a dozen U.S. defense firms and defense industry executives.

进行此类调查对北京来说十分罕见。一周前，拜登政府扩大了对中国出售美国先进技术的限制。在那之后的数天，中国政府宣布将禁止向美国出口几种稀有矿物，并对十多家美国国防公司和国防工业高管实施制裁。

Together, the moves by Beijing signal its willingness to engage in supply chain warfare as the policy contest over trade and the control of technology escalates between the world’s two largest economies.

随着世界两大经济体在贸易和技术控制方面的政策竞争不断升级，北京这些举动表明了中国愿意参与供应链战争之中。

The battle has made A.I. chips into one of the world’s most sought-after technologies, and Nvidia has cornered the market, accounting for 90 percent of global sales by the end of last year. Nvidia’s dominance helped it become one of the most valuable companies in the world over the past year.

这场战斗使人工智能芯片成为全球最令人趋之若鹜的技术之一，而英伟达已占领了相关市场。截至去年年底，其销售额占全球销售额的90%。英伟达在该领域的主导地位令该公司在过去一年中成为全球市值最高的公司之一。

Graham Webster, an academic focused on geopolitics and technology at Stanford University, said China had a variety of tools it could use to go after foreign companies and show its opposition to U.S. policy. “Nvidia is a pretty obvious target,” he added.

斯坦福大学专注于地缘政治和技术的学者格雷厄姆·韦伯斯特表示，中国有多种工具可用来来针对外国公司，并借此表明对美国政策的反对。“英伟达是一个非常明显的目标，”他补充说。

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said on Monday that it was investigating Nvidia for violating commitments made during its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, a company that makes computer networking equipment. The Chinese regulator approved Nvidia’s acquisition of the company in 2020 with conditions to prevent anti-competitive practices and ensure supplies to China.

中国国家市场监督管理总局周一表示，由于英伟达涉嫌违反收购计算机网络设备制造商迈络思科技时做出的承诺，该机构对英伟达展开调查。2020年，中国监管机构批准了英伟达对该公司的收购，但附带了防止反竞争行为和确保对中国供应的条件。

Nvidia said in a statement that it was “happy to answer” questions from China’s regulators. “We work hard to provide the best products we can in every region and honor our commitments everywhere we do business,” the statement said.

英伟达在声明中表示，该公司“很乐意回答”中国监管机构的问题。“我们努力在每个地区提供最佳产品，并在我们开展业务的任何地方履行我们的承诺，”声明说。

As the Biden administration has progressively tightened restrictions on Nvidia’s chip sales to China, the company has responded by offering less powerful versions of its chips to the Chinese market.

拜登政府逐步收紧对英伟达向中国销售芯片的限制，该公司的应对措施是向中国市场提供性能较低的芯片。

Officials in Washington, in trying to prevent Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and the machines to make them, say that the technology is essential not just for smartphones and chatbots but also for military superiority.

华盛顿的官员试图阻止中国公司购买先进芯片及其制造机器，称这项技术不仅对智能手机和聊天机器人至关重要，而且对军事优势也至关重要。

随着英伟达芯片成为人工智能发展的核心，该公司市值飙升。

Chinese tech companies have resorted to stockpiling the chips, while also turning to smugglers and front companies to secure supplies. At the same time, Beijing is pouring large sums of money into its own chip companies in an attempt to make its tech sector less reliant on foreign technology.

中国科技公司只得囤积芯片，同时也转向走私者和幌子公司来确保供应。与此同时，北京向本国芯片公司投入大量资金，试图减少科技行业对外国技术的依赖。

“Well before the Biden administration, the Chinese government wanted greater self-reliance on key technologies,” said Mr. Webster, a scholar at the program on geopolitics, technology and governance at Stanford.

“早在拜登政府执政之前，中国政府就希望在关键技术上实现更大程度的自力更生，”斯坦福大学地缘政治、技术和治理项目学者韦伯斯特说。

The Biden administration has been considering further restrictions on global sales of A.I. chips that could affect Nvidia and its competitors. One new rule could impose more requirements on companies from the United States and other countries when shipping advanced A.I. chips to China, to try to ensure they are not breaking existing U.S. rules, according to two people familiar with the plans who were not authorized to speak publicly.

拜登政府一直在考虑进一步对人工智能芯片的全球销售设限，这可能会影响英伟达及其竞争对手。据两位未获授权公开发言的知情人士透露，一项新规定可能会对美国和其他国家的公司在向中国运送先进的人工智能芯片时施加更多要求，以确保这些公司没有违反现有的美国规定。

The new rule would build on letters that the U.S. government sent to Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, two of the world’s largest chip companies, ordering them to stop sending advanced chips to China. The Biden administration had discovered that TSMC made some components for A.I. chips produced by Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications company, in violation of export controls.

美国政府曾致函全球最大的两家芯片公司三星和台积电，要求它们停止向中国运送先进芯片，新规将以这些信函为基础。拜登政府此前发现，台积电为中国电信公司华为生产的人工智能芯片制造了一些部件，违反了出口管制。

Another pending rule from Washington could impose licensing requirements and caps on the number of chips that could be sold in certain countries, as well as security standards for those buying larger clusters of A.I. chips.

华盛顿的另一项尚未出台的规定可能会对在某些国家销售的芯片施加许可要求和可出售数量上限，并针对购买大量人工智能芯片的公司制定安全标准。

Alan Estevez, a U.S. Department of Commerce official who oversees export controls, declined to comment on the pending rules, but said that the department was continuing to investigate how TSMC chips could end up in Huawei’s A.I. products.

美国商务部负责出口管制的官员艾伦·埃斯特维兹拒绝就尚未出台的规定置评，但表示商务部正在继续调查台积电芯片如何可能最终被用于制造华为的人工智能产品。

The Chinese government’s antitrust investigation of Nvidia is not the first time Beijing has targeted American chipmakers.

中国政府对英伟达的反垄断调查并不是北京首次针对美国芯片制造商展开行动。

In October, a think tank with ties to China’s internet regulatory agency called for a review of Intel, the American tech company, for selling products that “constantly harmed” China’s national security and interests. The last company subject to a cybersecurity review was the American chip maker Micron, which was ultimately cut off from supplying chips to a significant portion of the Chinese market. Another American chipmaker, Qualcomm, paid a $975 million fine in 2015 after the Chinese government investigated it for antimonopoly violations.

10月，一家与中国互联网监管机构有关联的智库呼吁对美国科技公司英特尔进行审查，原因是该公司销售的产品“不断损害”中国的国家安全和利益。上一家接受网络安全审查的公司是美国芯片制造商美光，该公司最终被禁止向中国市场很大一部分供应芯片。2015年，另一家美国芯片制造商高通因违反反垄断法而受到中国政府调查后，遭罚款60.88亿人民币。

Last week, Chinese industry groups representing companies in a range of business sectors, including semiconductors and auto manufacturing, called for Chinese companies to purchase more chips domestically or from countries other than the United States.

上周，代表半导体和汽车制造等多个行业公司的中国行业团体呼吁中国公司在国内或从美国以外的国家购买更多芯片。

“American chip products are no longer safe and reliable, and related Chinese industries will have to be cautious in purchasing American chips,” the China Semiconductor Industry Association said, following the U.S. decision to impose export controls.

在美国决定实施出口管制后，中国半导体行业协会表示：“美国芯片产品不再安全、不再可靠，中国相关行业将不得不谨慎采购美国芯片。”

As Nvidia has grown, revenue from China has become less important to the company overall. During its most recent fiscal year, Nvidia’s sales there fell to 14 percent of its total business from 19 percent.

随着英伟达发展壮大，来自中国的利润对公司整体的重要性开始下降。在最近一个财年，英伟达在华销售额占总业务的比例从19%降至14%。

But no Chinese company has been able to make chips as advanced as Nvidia’s.

但没有一家中国公司能够制造出像英伟达那样先进的芯片。

“China still wants Nvidia technology, in part or in whole,” said Kevin Xu, the U.S.-based founder of Interconnected Capital, a hedge fund that invests in artificial intelligence technologies. “Its market share dominance was well established in China long before export controls.”

“中国仍然想要英伟达的技术，无论是部分还是全部，”投资人工智能技术的对冲基金“互联资本”的美国创始人凯文·徐（音）表示。 “早在出口管制实施之前，英伟达就已在中国牢牢占据了市场份额。”

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Nvidia’s sales practices and its most recent acquisitions. The U.S. inquiry is largely concerned with the company’s power to determine how a scarce but essential technology is being allocated.

美国司法部正在调查英伟达的销售行为及其最近的收购行为。美国的调查主要关注该公司在决定如何分配一项稀缺但重要技术时拥有的能力。

Competitors and customers around the world have complained about Nvidia’s ownership of critical pieces of the A.I. supply chain. In addition to making the chips crucial to building A.I. systems, the company controls software that manages data centers and sells some of the leading equipment that controls high-performance computers.

世界各地的竞争对手和客户都抱怨英伟达拥有人工智能供应链的关键部分。除了制造对构建人工智能系统至关重要的芯片外，该公司还控制着管理数据中心的软件，并销售一些控制高性能计算机的领先设备。