Antitrust officials at the U.S Department of Justice (DOP) has launched an investigation into Nvidia after complaints from competitors alleged that Nvidia maybe abusing its market dominance in AI chips, according to a report from the Information reported on Thursday.
Nvidia’s leadership in advanced AI semiconductors has powered astonishing stock performance over the past year, and the company now owns between 70% and 95% of the market for AI chips used for training and deploying leading AI models , Mizuho Securities estimates, CNBC reported.
DOJ investigators are looking at whether Nvidia pressured cloud providers to buy multiple products, the report said, citing people involved in the discussions.
The investigation is also looking into whether Nvidia charges its customers more for networking gear if they want to buy AI chips from rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, it added.
The company did not comment on the report, but said that it would provide any information that regulators require.
“We compete based on decades of investment and innovation, scrupulously adhering to all laws, making Nvidia openly available in every cloud and on-prem for every enterprise, and ensuring that customers can choose whatever solution is best for them,” a Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement.
“We’ll continue to support aspiring innovators in every industry and market and are happy to provide any information regulators need.” They added
The report said that investigators have reached out to several of Nvidia’s competitors to gather more details.
U.S. progressive groups and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren have pressed the DOJ to investigate Nvidia over competition concerns.
The groups, which oppose monopolies and promote government oversight of tech companies, among other issues, took aim at Nvidia’s bundling of software and hardware, a practice that French antitrust enforcers have also flagged as they prepare to bring their own charges.
