The European Union sets its sights on NVIDIA: AI chip monopoly may face investigation.
The European Union is currently investigating potential anti-competitive practices in the field of artificial intelligence chips, which is almost monopolized by NVIDIA.
According to the Smart Finance app, the European Union is investigating possible anti-competitive practices in the field of artificial intelligence chips, which is almost monopolized by NVIDIA (NVDA.US). It is reported that the European Commission has informally collected opinions on potential abusive behavior in the GPU field to determine whether future intervention is necessary. This preliminary investigation may never lead to a formal investigation or punishment.
This echoes a similar investigation by French authorities. French authorities have been conducting market visits on NVIDIA's pricing policies, chip shortages, and their impact on prices in the field of artificial intelligence chips.
Before the European Union's antitrust enforcement agency took this action, the French competition regulator announced earlier this week that it had conducted a surprise search of the office of a company suspected of engaging in "anti-competitive behavior in the graphics card industry." It was previously reported that the target of the Paris raid was NVIDIA.
NVIDIA's dominant position in the supply of AI task chips is facing stricter scrutiny from regulatory agencies. The company's GPUs were initially popular in video games and are now crucial for training large language models and other types of AI software.
Currently, NVIDIA has declined to comment. The European Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The French competition authority could not confirm whether NVIDIA was the target of the surprise search this week. Representatives from the French Ministry of Finance and the Digital Department declined to comment on the investigation.
GPUs have become one of the hottest commodities in the tech industry, with cloud computing providers vying to obtain them. NVIDIA's acclaimed H100 processing units have helped them capture over 80% of the market share, far ahead of competitors Intel (INTC.US) and AMD (AMD.US).
If any formal EU antitrust investigation is launched in the future, the accused companies will face orders to change their practices and may be fined up to 10% of their global annual revenue.
