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China has ended its antitrust investigation into Google as trade discussions with Washington intensified over TikTok and Nvidia, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The decision reflects a tactical shift by Beijing, which has redirected regulatory pressure towards Nvidia while signalling flexibility to Washington by dropping the Google probe, the newspaper stated.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, which launched the investigation against Google in February, has now closed it, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The regulator had previously said that Google was suspected of breaching the country’s anti-monopoly law but did not disclose specific details of the alleged violations.
According to the FT, Google has not yet received formal notification that the probe has been dropped.
Earlier this week, China accused Nvidia of contravening its anti-monopoly law after a preliminary review of the company’s business practices.
Tensions between the two countries have risen over the past six months. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on China, later reducing them to 30%, while also threatening to ban TikTok.
China retaliated with 10% tariffs and antitrust investigations into U.S. companies, including Alphabet’s Google, signalling heightened regulatory scrutiny of American firms.
