While the Covid-19 pandemic rages, China and the United States continue to spar warily over national security, technology and deal-making. In this fight, the canary in the coal mine is Nvidia’s pending $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox.  Nvidia, a U.S. company, agreed to acquire Mellanox, an Israeli company with U.S. operations, 13 months ago. Both are in the semiconductor industry, making high-end chips to power supercomputers and much of the cryptocurrency industry. For Nvidia, facing slowing growth, this is a must-do deal which would allow it to further penetrate the supercomputing arena and build on Mellanox’s artificial intelligence business. For Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, the $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox is a must-do deal. Credit: Nvidia, CC BY-SA 2.0 This is key technology in a world where China and the U.S. are setting up champions to further economic competition. And because Nvidia is a U.S. company, this is a deal that would further build the