French government raids NVIDIA offices in France, faces huge fine, antitrust charges

The French government has raided NVIDIA’s offices in France, and the French antitrust authority plans to charge the company with alleged anti-competitive practices.

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This news comes from Reuters and people dealing with “direct knowledge of the case“making it the first government to take on NVIDIA for anti-competitive conduct. French authorities have a statement of opposition, or a chart sheet, that follows previous raids on the graphics card business in September 2023, about which Reuters sources said:NVIDIA-focused“. These raids were part of “broader study of cloud computing“.

NVIDIA’s unbroken dominance in the GPU market, and more specifically — and far more dominant — in the GPU AI business, has earned the chipmaker a magnifying glass from the French. That’s been bolstered over the past year by generative AI leader OpenAI and its ChatGPT, which Reuters reports is “triggering regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic“.

Reuters followed up by saying that the French regulator, which publishes some but not all of the company’s statements of opposition, and NVIDIA (of course) declined to comment. NVIDIA said in a letter filed in 2023 that regulators from the European Union, China and France have asked the company for information about its graphics cards.

The European Commission is “less likely“expand your initial review”for new“Reuters reports as French regulator investigates NVIDIA”other people with direct knowledge have commented on this topic“. The French regulator discussed generative AI, citing the risk of abuse by chip suppliers (such as NVIDIA) in a report published last week.

The French watchdog raised concerns about the AI ​​industry’s reliance on NVIDIA’s leading CUDA programming software, which is the only system that is 100% compatible with the GPUs that have become a cornerstone of HPC and AI. They also raised concerns about NVIDIA’s recent investment in AI-focused cloud providers, noting CoreWeave.

The possible fine for violating French antitrust rules could be up to 10% of their global annual turnover, but Reuters adds that they could also grant concessions to “avoid penalties“which would be a huge achievement, as NVIDIA recently topped the financial markets with a market capitalization of $3.3 trillion (with a T).

Reuters added that the US Department of Justice is taking the lead in investigating NVIDIA because “divided“The Federal Trade Commission’s Control of Big Tech”a source familiar with the matter“said the portal.