VOL. 1, NO. 1
TWO PENCE
LONDON • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025
In a striking development that recalls the technology races of our own century, the Chinese authorities have ordered their leading concerns — including household names such as Alibaba and ByteDance — to cease all purchases of the celebrated American company Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips.
The directive, issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China, is said to extend to existing contracts, requiring cancellations of outstanding orders for the RTX Pro 6000D, a machine Nvidia had fashioned especially for the Chinese market. The decision has startled international observers, who see in it a clear bid by Peking to hasten its independence from foreign suppliers of advanced calculating engines.
Simultaneously, the Chinese Government has levelled charges of antimonopoly violations against Nvidia, questioning its earlier purchase of the firm Mellanox Technologies in 2020. Regulators claim that the American giant has failed to honour undertakings made when the deal was approved, raising the spectre of fines or further restrictions.
Mr. Jensen Huang, Nvidia's celebrated founder and chief executive, responded with regret, remarking that his company has long sought to serve the Chinese market but is constrained by "larger agendas between nations."
Meanwhile, reports from the Orient reveal that Alibaba and Baidu have already begun employing home-grown chips to train their artificial minds, while Tencent has proclaimed its computing halls compatible with "mainstream domestic designs." Though these home-made contrivances are said to be less advanced than Nvidia's crown jewels, Chinese engineers express confidence that the gap will soon narrow.
The edict sent tremors through Western stock exchanges. Nvidia's shares fell several points in the wake of the announcement, reflecting fears that one of the company's richest markets may soon be lost altogether. Analysts whisper that the loss of Chinese patronage could reduce Nvidia's projected revenues by billions, though some maintain the American firm's dominance in Europe and the United States will sustain its fortunes.
To British eyes, the matter carries echoes of the great power struggles of mid-century. Just as the Soviet Union once sought to match the West in atomic power, so now China strives to match America in the invisible yet formidable realm of electronic intelligence. The banning of Nvidia's chips may be seen as both a rebuke to Washington's export restrictions and a clarion call for Chinese self-reliance.
For the United Kingdom, the affair raises delicate questions. British firms, though consumers rather than producers of such high-end chips, must navigate a world in which the supply of electronic brains is subject to political decree as much as to market forces. Scholars at Cambridge and Manchester warn that reliance upon a single foreign supplier could prove perilous.
"These are no longer mere instruments of calculation. They are engines of policy, weapons in a contest of systems. The struggle for supremacy in artificial intelligence may determine the fortunes of nations as surely as did the mastery of steam or steel."
— Editorial, The Times, September 17, 2025
As the world watches this drama unfold, one conclusion seems unavoidable: the age of artificial intelligence is not merely a chapter in science, but a theatre in geopolitics.