Antitrust efforts to be beefed up in 2025

China is set to ramp up foreign-related antitrust enforcement next year, especially in key strategic sectors including semiconductors, new energy and the platform economy, in order to safeguard China's economic security, said the country's top market regulator.

Luo Wen, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said, "Strengthening oversight in these sectors in a steady and prudent manner will be a top priority in 2025."

Speaking at the administration's annual meeting, which ended earlier this week, Luo said that more efforts will be made next year to "advance antitrust enforcement in foreign-related cases and strictly review cross-border acquisitions in sectors like semiconductors".

Strengthening foreign-related antitrust enforcement in these sectors will ensure the security of China's industrial and supply chains, as these sectors are important, sensitive and focus on frontier areas of international competition, he said.

He added that more steps will also be taken to better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises when they expand their businesses abroad.

The move came as the administration announced an investigation earlier this month into United States chipmaker Nvidia over suspected violations of the anti-monopoly law and commitments it made during the company's acquisition of a chip designer.

The market regulator's vision to prioritize foreign-related antitrust enforcement is mainly to ensure economic security and stability amid rising trade protectionism globally, said Zhong Gang, executive director of the Competition Law Research Institute at the East China University of Political Science and Law.

"It is also a global practice to leverage legal services to better support economic development, especially when faced with an economic slowdown on a global scale," he said.

Meanwhile, Luo said the market regulator plans to intensify its efforts next year to curb irrational competition in emerging sectors such as electric vehicles, photovoltaics and lithium batteries.

Malicious pricing practices, false advertising and damaging behavior such as mutual slander and sabotage will be strictly regulated to ensure an orderly and fair market, he said.

In addition, Luo emphasized that platform companies, a term that mainly refers to enterprises that leverage platforms and digital technologies to do business, will also come under heightened scrutiny next year.

"Irrational competition among platform companies will not only drag down their own innovative development but also hurt the interests of smaller players and workers," Luo added, referring to vicious competition among companies competing for low prices and limited resources.

He said the administration aims to take targeted actions on the misuse of algorithms, such as discriminatory pricing against regular users and practices that harm smaller players.

The Central Economic Work Conference held earlier this month also called for accelerated steps to enhance regulation and promote the healthy development of the platform economy.

The latest data from the administration showed that the number of digital-driven enterprises, mostly platform companies, reached 1.96 million in the country by November, up 19.64 percent compared with last year.

Shi Hongxiu, a professor of economics at the National Academy of Governance, said the work plan of the country's top market regulator saw an apparent shift in focus.

"Instead of curbing disorderly expansion of capital, antitrust enforcement among platform companies is now more centered on development," he said.

More antitrust efforts will be made to prevent external pressures and risks to ensure better domestic market development, he added.