San francisco, Apr 17 (IANS): Graphics giant Nvidia has received approval from China's antitrust authority to proceed with its $6.9 billion deal to acquire Israel-based chip designer Mellanox Technologies Ltd.

With this crucial approval, closing of the deal is expected to occur on or about April 27.

The latest approval by China's State Administration for Market Regulation follows antitrust approval from the European Commission and Mexico and the expiration of the waiting period under US antitrust laws, Nvidia said on Thursday.

Shares of both Nvidia and Mellanox rose on the news.

With the exception of the remaining customary closing conditions, all conditions to the deal's closing have been satisfied.

Nvidia announced in March last year its intention to acquire Mellanox for $125 per share in cash, or $6.9 billion, in a transaction that would combine Nvidia's leading computing expertise with Mellanox's high-performance interconnect technology.

The completion of Nvidia's acquisition of Mellanox is expected to give the company more power to compete with its rival Intel.