(Yicai Global) April 17 -- China has become the last major antitrust authority to approve Nvidia’s USD6.9 billion takeover of Israeli-American chip designer Mellanox Technologies, quashing concerns that the deal could founder due to ongoing China-US trade tensions. Both companies shares gained.

After a 13-month wait, all necessary regulatory approvals have now been secured and the deal should close by April 27, Nvidia said. As a major acquisition of a peer competitor, the takeover needed regulatory consent from a number of countries.

China’s anti-monopoly watchdog, the State Administration for Market Regulation, did attach certain conditions to the deal. The pair must not add bundles or attach other unreasonable conditions to its China sales. Nvidia also must make the software used by Mellanox in its devices available as open source, the SAMR said yesterday.

Nvidia has been expanding into the network and connections industry, said Stacy Rasgon, an analyst at German business analytics firm Bernstein Group. The acquisition will allow it to offer customized solutions to clients.

Nvidia’s [NASDAQ:NVDA] shares jumped 4.9 percent yesterday to close at USD294.70, while Mellanox [NASDAQ:MLNX] rose 1.8 percent to USD124.60.

China’s increasing reliance on Big Data centers has made it a major market for the two California-based firms. Nvidia makes the graphics processing chips that serve as computer accelerators to process the huge volumes of data generated by cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Mellanox makes the connecting devices found inside the servers and counts e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and search engine titan Baidu as clients.

Last year, Nvidia’s fourth-quarter revenue from its data center business soared almost 43 percent to USD968 million, accounting for a third of its income, according to the firm’s latest earnings report.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor