The French antitrust authority will accuse Nvidia of alleged anti-competitive practices

According to sources with direct knowledge of the matter, the French antitrust authority intends to accuse Nvidia of alleged anti-competitive practices. The action marks the first time any regulator has brought an action against Nvidia, a global leader in artificial intelligence and computer graphics chips, over such allegations.

The charges follow dawn raids last September in the graphics card sector, which sources confirm targeted Nvidia specifically. The raids were part of a broader investigation into the cloud computing industry, Reuters reported. Rising demand for Nvidia chips, spurred by the release of the generative AI app ChatGPT, has drawn increased regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.

Both French authorities and Nvidia have declined to comment on the impending allegations. Nvidia acknowledged in a regulatory filing last year that regulators in the European Union, China and France had requested information about its graphics cards, Reuters reported.

Related: Nvidia Under Global Regulatory Scrutiny Amid Antitrust Investigations

The French antitrust watchdog raised concerns about potential abuses by chip suppliers in the generative AI sector in a report published last Friday. In particular, it highlighted the industry’s reliance on Nvidia’s CUDA chip programming software, the only system fully compatible with the GPUs needed for accelerated processing. The report also noted concerns about Nvidia’s recent investments in AI-focused cloud providers such as CoreWeave.

Companies that violate French antitrust law can be fined up to 10% of global annual revenues. However, they may also offer concessions to avoid penalties.

Meanwhile, regulatory attention on Nvidia is not limited to Europe. The US Department of Justice is investigating the company, sharing the task of policing Big Tech with the Federal Trade Commission, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Source: Reuters