China on Monday accused Nvidia of violating the country's antimonopoly laws and said it would step up scrutiny of the world's top chipmaker, heightening tensions with Washington as the two countries meet for trade talks this week.

Chinese regulators said they would carry out "further investigation" into Nvidia after a preliminary investigation found that the company breached regulations when it acquired network and data transmission company Mellanox for $6.9 billion in 2020.

Nvidia didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.

China's regulators had said last year that they were looking into suspected violations linked to the Mellanox acquisition. Shares of Nvidia declined $2.81, or 1.6%, to $175.01 in premarket trading on Monday.

The decision ratchets up pressure on the U.S. as

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