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Microsoft's Xbox video game division has announced new partnerships with Nintendo and chipmaker Nvidia as it tries to persuade European regulators to approve its planned USD68.7 billion takeover of game publishing giant Activision Blizzard. A key audience for the announcements were the European Union antitrust regulators who held a closed-door meeting Tuesday with executives from Microsoft and some of their competitors, including Sony and Google. Microsoft announced a 10-year agreement with chipmaker Nvidia to bring Xbox games to Nvidia's cloud gaming service. Microsoft also said it has now signed a similar deal with Nintendo, formalizing a commitment it revealed late last year. What it does not have is an agreement with Xbox's chief rival, PlayStation-maker Sony, which has sought to convince antitrust regulators around the world to stop the Activision Blizzard merger. The all-cash deal, which is set to be the largest in the history of the tech industry, faces pushback from regulat
The Chinese government on Thursday called on Washington to repeal its technology export curbs after chip designer Nvidia Corp. said a new product might be delayed and some work might be moved out of China. The latest controls add to mounting US-Chinese tension over technology and security. American officials say they need to limit the spread of technology that can be used to make weapons. Nvidia said it was told Friday it needs a US government license to export any product with performance equal to its A100 graphics processing chips or better to China, Hong Kong or Russia. It said buyers of the A100 and development of the newer H100 might be affected. China's Commerce Ministry accused Washington of abusing export controls to limit semiconductor sales to China. It said trade curbs would disrupt supply chains and global economic recovery. China firmly opposes this, said a ministry spokesperson, Shu Jueting. The US side should immediately stop its erroneous practices, treat companies