China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has summoned Tencent, ByteDance and Baidu to explain recent purchases of Nvidia’s H20 artificial-intelligence chips, according to people briefed on the meetings. Regulators cited national-security risks and urged the internet platforms to accelerate adoption of domestically produced semiconductors. State-run outlets have also described the H20 as environmentally unfriendly and potentially fitted with “backdoors,” intensifying pressure on Chinese buyers to switch suppliers. The scrutiny from Beijing comes as Washington moves in the opposite direction. President Donald Trump this month approved licences for Nvidia and AMD to resume exports of the previously banned H20 and a comparable AMD accelerator to China in exchange for the companies handing 15 percent of the related sales to the U.S. Treasury. The revenue-sharing arrangement—an unprecedented condition for an export licence—has triggered bipartisan criticism in Congress; six senators warned in a letter that the deal could breach constitutional prohibitions on export duties and undermine longstanding national-security controls. The parallel actions underscore the widening fault line in the global AI supply chain. Chinese state media, reacting to U.S. devices reportedly embedded in outbound chip shipments, labeled the United States a “surveillance empire,” while American lawmakers argue that monetising export controls turns security policy into pay-for-play. Nvidia, whose market value has climbed to roughly US$4.4 trillion and a record 8.2 percent weight in the S&P 500, sits at the centre of the dispute as both governments try to shape access to its most sought-after hardware.