Chinese regulators are investigating Qualcomm's acquisition of Autotalks

China's antitrust regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), has opened an investigation into Qualcomm's acquisition of the Israeli connected-vehicle chip company Autotalks. SAMR alleges that Qualcomm is suspected of violating China's anti-monopoly laws by not disclosing certain details of the deal. The acquisition was initially agreed upon in 2023 to expand Qualcomm's Snapdragon portfolio into more automotive applications. However, the deal was previously investigated by both the US Federal Trade Commission and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, with Qualcomm temporarily abandoning the acquisition in early 2024. The exact process of how the deal was reopened is not clear. The investigation comes amid ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China, with China also recently taking action against NVIDIA's $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox, which it said violated conditional terms outlined by regulators on initial approval. The bulk of these investigations have been linked to China's attempts to gain leverage in these trade discussions.