Chip selloff deepens amid AI trade fears, rising Chinese competition

Chinese tech companies have purchased more than 1 million Nvidia gaming and workstation chips, specifically focusing on RTX 5090 and RTX Pro models, to handle basic AI workloads during an AI chip shortage, according to the Financial Times. These products were not originally designed for advanced AI, but are being acquired by tech giants to meet rising computing demands.

Nvidia’s market share of AI chips in China fell to 34% in the first half of 2026, according to a Reuters report cited by Investing.com. During the six months ending in June, Nvidia shipped 678,000 AI data center chips to China, representing a 44% decrease from the previous year. This decline is attributed to U.S. export controls restricting the sale of advanced chips and Beijing's limited approval of certain permitted sales.

The reduction in Nvidia's market share occurs as Chinese companies like Huawei increase production of competing chips. Investing.com reports that Huawei held a 28% share of the AI market among Chinese developers, followed by T-head at 7%, Cambricon at 5%, Kunlunxin at 4%, and Hygon at 3%.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, Investing.com — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.