China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has started an investigation into the months-old Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) acquisition of Autotalks, Bloomberg News reported.
Shares of Qualcomm fell about 3% premarket on Friday.
The regulator said it would look into potential violations of the country’s anti-monopoly law in relation to Qualcomm’s acquisition of connected-vehicle technology provider Autotalks, the report added.
Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
China is targeting Qualcomm, whose technology is vital to smartphones and networking, in the run-up to a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The two nations are maneuvering for leverage ahead of the expiration of a U.S.-China trade truce, even at the risk of increasing tensions, the report noted.
Earlier this week, China unveiled new curbs on its exports of rare earths and other critical materials, echoing moves made in response to Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs in April.
Besides Qualcomm, Chinese regulators also disclosed a probe into Nvidia’s (NVDA) 2020 acquisition of networking gear maker Mellanox. That investigation was unveiled just as Chinese and U.S. officials sparred over trade and other issues during negotiations in Madrid about a month ago.