7 Aug 2024
In the first probe, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will scrutinise NVIDIA's buyout of Run:ai, and the second probe will evaluate if it abuses its dominant position in AI Chips.
In July, US, UK, and EU regulators pledged to “safeguard against tactics that would undermine fair competition” in the AI world. Since then, international regulators have been closely monitoring significant tech acquisitions.
That’s why NVIDIA’s $700 million acquisition of the Israeli GPU management startup Run:ai caught the attention of the US regulator.
The DOJ is also evaluating NVIDIA’s global dominance in the AI chips market. After receiving several anti-competitive complaints, the regulator is assessing whether NVIDIA misuses its dominance to discourage customers from using its competitors’ products. There have been claims that the AI chip maker overcharges customers for networking equipment if they buy AI chips from its competitors, like AMD and Intel. It may also face French antitrust charges for anti-competitive practices.
NVIDIA owns 70 to 95% of the market for chips used to train AI models. In June, it briefly overtook Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company.