Shares in chipmaker Nvidia fell 4% in the previous session, seeing it lose its title as the world’s most valuable company, pulling it back into second place behind Apple (AAPL).
Monday’s fall in shares left Nvidia with a market valuation of $3.3tn (£2.6tn) compared to Apple’s $3.5tn.
The stock declined following reports that Nvidia executive Jay Puri had met with China’s vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen.
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Wang said China welcomed Nvidia’s presence and hoped to develop a better business environment for foreign firms, according to reports by Reuters.
The meeting comes as US president Joe Biden’s administration is set to announce new export restrictions on China, which includes further curbing access to semiconductors.
Nvidia’s shares were nearly 3% in the red over a five-day period, as the company’s closely-watched earnings disappointed on revenue guidance and a decline in gross margins.
Apple was also slightly in the red in pre-market trading on Tuesday, as a Financial Times report highlighted the difficulties that the tech company was facing in China with the rollout of its AI model for iPhones and other products.
A top Beijing official reportedly warned that foreign companies like Apple would face a “difficult and long process” for approvals unless they partnered with local groups.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook arrived in China on Monday and joined more than 20 business leaders in talks with China’s premier, according to Bloomberg.
This marked Cook’s third trip to China this year and was reportedly the first high-level meeting between foreign corporations and a senior Beijing official since Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory earlier this month.
Trump had already threatened to hike trade tariffs with China in his election campaign and on Monday vowed to impose even deeper tariffs on China after he returns to office in January.
Shares in video conferencing provider Zoom were down nearly 6% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, after the company shared a sales forecast that failed to excite investors.
Zoom guided to total revenue of between $1.175bn and $1.18bn for the fourth quarter, which was only slightly higher than analyst estimates of $1.17bn, according to Bloomberg.
In its third quarter results, released on Monday, Zoom announced that it had changed its name, dropping the “video” from its title to highlight its pivot to an AI-first business.
