Nvidia is based in Santa Clara, California.
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The DOJ has ordered Nvidia to provide information as part of its antitrust investigation into the chip manufacturer.
Officials are investigating whether Nvidia’s success is harming buyers who want to turn to other suppliers.
A spokesman for Nvidia declined to comment on the matter.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and reviewed by a real editor.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has legally required Nvidia to provide information as part of an impending investigation into whether the tech and AI chip giant has violated antitrust laws, as Bloomberg reports.
The move marks an escalation in the DOJ’s investigation. As Bloomberg reports, Justice Department lawyers had previously sent questionnaires to several companies. However, the subpoenas to Nvidia Corp. and other technology companies are a new step that brings the investigation closer to a possible trial.
Among other things, competition watchdogs are concerned that Nvidia could make it more difficult for customers to switch to the competition, they said, citing informed sources. Nvidia stressed in a statement to Bloomberg that the company is winning in the market thanks to the strength of its offering. The Justice Department declined to comment on the report when asked.
Acquisition of Run:ai triggered investigation
According to previous reports, federal authorities are investigating potential antitrust issues on several fronts.
Justice Department officials are investigating whether Nvidia’s dominance has made it difficult for buyers to turn to other suppliers. Some interest groups have complained about itthat Nvidia threatens customers who use chips from both Nvidia and competitors.
The Sea of „Politico“ Justice Department lawyers are also investigating Nvidia’s purchase this year of Run:ai, a company that makes computer chips work more efficiently.
Nvidia has benefited from the AI boom like no other company. The manufacturer’s chips have established themselves as the leading hardware for training software with artificial intelligence in data centers. This has brought Nvidia explosive growth in sales, profits and share price. In addition to the chips, the company also earns money from the software used to make them. Rivals such as AMD and Intel have so far struggled to pose serious competition to Nvidia in the business.
Competition authorities also investigate partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI
Separately, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Microsoft and OpenAI violated antitrust laws through their partnership. OpenAI uses Nvidia chips to train the large language models that form the backbone of its products, including ChatGPT.
Nvidia’s share price had already suffered from the general market crisis before the Bloomberg report. On Tuesday it collapsed by 9.5 percent. One of the triggers was investor doubts about how sustainable the AI boom would be.
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