The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday, Dec. 10, edition that China has launched an investigation into Nvidia over potential anti-monopoly violations related to its 2020 acquisition of Mellanox Technologies. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that this probe comes as Washington increases sanctions against Chinese technology companies. The Chinese government had approved the deal with the condition that Nvidia would not discriminate against local companies. The action against Nvidia follows recent Chinese export bans on materials for tech and military use and underscores rising tensions in the tech trade war, as Nvidia's market value has surged due to demand for artificial intelligence chips. China had approved Nvidia's $7-billion acquisition of Mellanox on condition that the Israeli computer networking equipment maker provide information about new products to rivals within 90 days of making them available to Nvidia. Nvidia has a market value of $3.49-trillion (U.S.) making it the second-biggest U.S. company by market value after Apple. Washington has sought to slow China's development of advanced chip technology and has barred Nvidia from selling its most advanced semiconductors to companies there.