China’s antitrust investigation is a major change in how Beijing retaliates against U.S. tech policies, Reva Goujon writes in a guest commentary.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has recently asked Nvidia to look into how the company's products ended up in China over the past year, The Information reported on Thursday, citing a person close to the department.

The US has had sanctions over China that obstruct it from getting hands on Nvidia chips, but over the past year, a few instances have come to light that reveal that China is in possession of Nvidia products.

China said on Monday it has launched an investigation into Nvidia over suspected violations of the country's anti-monopoly law, a probe widely seen as a retaliatory shot against Washington's latest curbs on the Chinese chip sector.