China has decided to end its antitrust investigation into Google, coinciding with renewed trade discussions with Washington over TikTok and Nvidia, The Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The move indicates a tactical recalibration by Beijing, shifting its regulatory scrutiny towards Nvidia as a bargaining tool in US-China trade negotiations, while signalling flexibility by dropping the Google probe, the report said.
What happened
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, which began investigating Google in February, has now opted to close the case. The regulator had earlier stated that Google was suspected of breaching the country’s anti-monopoly law but did not disclose details of the allegations.
Google has not received formal notification of the decision to terminate the probe.