China steps up customs crackdown on Nvidia chips, launches antitrust investigation into Qualcomm, and plans special port fees on US ships
Beijing is doubling down on protectionism ahead of a planned Xi Jinping and Donald Trump meeting set for later this month.
For months now, China has been getting increasingly defensive over its domestic industries, particularly the all-important AI hardware space. This morning, we got the latest measures from those continued efforts.
First, the Financial Times reported that China has mobilized teams of agents at major ports across the country to “carry out stringent checks on semiconductor shipments.” The initial goal is reportedly to stop local tech companies from buying Nvidia chips, most notably the tech giant’s H20 and RTX Pro 6000D models, which Beijing has become particularly focused on stopping from entering the country. According to the FT, one person familiar with the matter also said that the more rigorous enforcement had been widened to all advanced semiconductor products.
Separately this morning, news broke that chip giant Qualcomm was the subject of a new antitrust investigation from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation over its acquisition of Israel’s Autotalks. Qualcomm fell 3% in early trading. In September, Nvidia itself fell foul of the same Chinese regulator over a 2020 acquisition.
Outside of AI, China is also planning to impose special import fees on vessels owned by US individuals, companies, or organizations, in a retaliatory move to a similar policy the US revealed back in April.
Per The Wall Street Journal, vessels docking at Chinese ports will be charged 400 yuan per net ton from October 14. That’s equivalent to ~$56. That fee is also set to rise over time, hitting 640 yuan per net ton in April 2026, 880 yuan the year after, and 1,120 yuan from April 2028.
The escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two most important economies comes ahead of a planned meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, slated to take place at the end of the month at the APEC summit. Yesterday, CNN reported that Beijing had ramped up sweeping restrictions on rare earth exports.
