BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) - China on Monday said it has

launched an investigation into Nvidia Corp ( NVDA ) over

suspected violations of the country's anti-monopoly law, in a

move that will likely be seen as a retaliatory move against

Washington's recent chip curbs.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said

the U.S. chipmaker is also suspected of violating commitments it

made during its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd,

according to terms outlined in the regulator's 2020 conditional

approval of that deal.

It did not elaborate on how Nvidia ( NVDA ) might have violated

China's anti-monopoly laws.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) did not immediately respond to a request for

comment. The company's shares fell 2.2% in premarket trading

after the Chinese regulator's announcement.

The investigation comes after the U.S. last week launched

its third crackdown in three years on China's semiconductor

industry, which saw Washington curb exports to 140 companies,

including chip equipment makers.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) has enjoyed booming demand from China, though

this has been dented over the past year by U.S. efforts to stop

China from acquiring the world's most advanced chips.

Before the U.S. curbs, Nvidia ( NVDA ) dominated China's AI chip

market with more than 90 per cent share. However, it currently

faces increasing competition from domestic rivals, chief among

them being Huawei.

When the U.S. firm made a $6.9 billion bid to acquire

Israeli chip designer Mellanox Technologies in 2019 there were

concerns that China could block the deal due to U.S.-China trade

frictions.

Beijing however later approved the deal in 2020 with

multiple conditions for Nvidia ( NVDA ) and the merged entity's China

operations, including prohibitions on forced product bundling,

unreasonable trading terms, purchase restrictions, and

discriminatory treatment of customers who buy products

separately.