As the US and China look for any sort of leverage in a prolonged trade fight, Beijing sees an opportunity to win over the world by taking a stand against the Trump administration’s plans to track high-end chips. Chinese internet regulators last week summoned Nvidia Corp. staff over alleged security risks with its less-advanced H20 chips. The action, citing calls from US lawmakers to build tracking features into the most powerful semiconductors, has yet to lead to any type of formal ban or restrictions. Either way, analysts see the move as not so much about the H20s, which Chinese state-backed entities have publicly employed for some time, but rather an easy way for Beijing to send a series of messages about the US plans: Domestic firms should be cautious, the world should be wary and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang should influence the White House to shift course. “The recent summons of Nvidia serves as a warning for Nvidia’s future products rather than a sign that the Chinese government found any loophole in H20,” said George Chen, partner and co-chair of digital practice at The Asia Group, which was co-founded by former US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. “China wants to use the Nvidia case to show China is a buyer, but it won’t be a blind buyer.”

Full analysis : China summoning Nvidia over alleged H20 security risks shows it “wants to use the Nvidia case to show China is a buyer, but it won’t be a blind buyer.”