From TikTok to Nvidia, the tech war is getting uglier

BYTEDANCE’S options for TikTok in the US are looking increasingly desolate, as the tech war between Washington and Beijing boils over. The mutual distrust and tit-for-tat animosity lays bare the new reality, where more firms will be pinched from both sides.

China’s market regulators are now targeting Nvidia Corp in a probe stemming from a deal Beijing approved years ago. The move against the Santa Clara-based chipmaker follows other recent escalations; Beijing halted exports of certain minerals with tech applications to the US after Washington intensified chip curbs to China last week. China is also cutting off drone supplies to the US and Europe that have become a vital part of Ukraine’s defence.

And on Friday (Dec 6), a US federal appeals court upheld a law forcing TikTok to divest from Chinese parent ByteDance or face a ban. This makes Nvidia an especially interesting fresh target for Beijing, in part because it exposes how interconnected supply chains still are. ByteDance has become Nvidia’s largest customer in China and, amid the TikTok uncertainty, it has been reportedly going all-in on artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions in search of its next growth engine.