Nvidia faces French antitrust investigation

Nvidia will be the subject of an investigation by the French antitrust authority. According to sources briefed on the matter who spoke to Reuters Agencythis The authority of consent will investigate the graphics processing unit (GPU) giant for alleged anti-competitive practices. The investigation follows a series of raids on Nvidia’s Paris offices in September 2023, which were part of another investigation by the regulator into France’s cloud computing sector.

Or Authority nor Nvidia have commented on the rumored investigation. However, the former’s AI report cited the sector’s reliance on the GPU maker’s CUDA chip programming software as a “concern” for the regulator. It is, the watchdog said, the only one of its kind that is “100% compatible with GPUs, which have become essential for accelerated processing.”

Nvidia increasingly attracts attention of regulators

Nvidia currently dominates the global GPU market, thanks in part to the chips’ popularity among AI developers and hyperscalers. Unlike the central processing units (CPUs) found in most smartphones, tablets, and laptops, which process calculations sequentially, GPUs are capable of doing so simultaneously. Originally designed to run advanced graphics software, AI researchers discovered in the 2010s that this odd design feature was ideal for training neural networks, then the large language models of today.

While Nvidia has benefited greatly from the popularity of its GPUs among those companies and startups looking to train new generative AI models, it has also attracted the attention of many regulators. Authority, which raided the company’s French offices as part of a broader investigation into allegations of anti-competitive practices in the cloud computing market there. However, the watchdog was careful to point out in a later statement that the mere fact of the raid “does not presuppose the existence of a breach of law” – something it added can only be established through a “full investigation.”

Concerns about CUDA

France is not the only jurisdiction where Nvidia’s operations are facing regulatory scrutiny. In the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) described the company as a leading node in an “interconnected network” of 90 investments and partnerships across the AI ​​value chain. Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice also opened an investigation into Nvidia. That investigation, according to New York Timeswill take action in response to concerns that the company’s CUDA software effectively prevents AI software developers from using alternative graphics processors alongside Nvidia’s CPUs.

Content from our partners