The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched two separate antitrust probes into GPU and AI giant Nvidia.
The DOJ is evaluating whether Nvidia has abused its market dominance and forced companies to buy additional products to receive GPUs, while penalizing those that buy rival chips.
The Information reports that rivals have told the DOJ that customers who buy chips and cables from Nvidia pay a lower price for each product - while bundling isn't illegal, it can turn into a company using a dominant product to harm competitors.
Others claim that Nvidia has restricted the number of chips a customer can get unless it buys additional Nvidia products. Some believe it charges a higher price or restricts shipping to those using rival chips from AMD or Intel.
Microsoft, one of Nvidia's largest customers, was reportedly concerned that not buying Nvidia's networking cables would lead the company to be slower in delivering its much-sought-after GPUs.
“Nvidia wins on merit, as reflected in our benchmark results and value to customers,” Nvidia spokesperson Mylene Mangalindan said.
“We compete based on decades of investment and innovation, scrupulously adhering to all laws, making Nvidia openly available in every cloud and…for every enterprise, and ensuring that customers can choose whatever solution is best for them. We… are happy to provide any information regulators need.”
At the same time, Politico reported that the DOJ is looking into the company's $700 million acquisition of Run:ai from April. The Israeli startup helps to manage and optimize distributed AI deployments via its open platform built on Kubernetes, essentially allowing for more work to be done with fewer chips.
The DOJ appears to be trying to understand if Run:ai will still help customers of non-Nvidia GPUs. It has also asked about Nvidia's 2022 acquisition of software firm Bright Computing.
In France, officials raided the company's offices last year and are believed to be close to raising anti-competition charges. The UK and EU are looking into AI competition risks more broadly.
International regulators were responsible for stymying Nvidia's attempted acquisition of Arm in 2020.
