Tech Desk 
Aug 02, 2024
The world's famous chip-developing giant Nvidia, faces investigation on two different counts by the United States Department of Justice over concerns regarding its dominance in the market and anti-competitive business practices within the AI industry.
What happened?
Nvidia faces investigations from several regulators across the world, which control up to 70% to 95% of the market share of artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
First under investigation will be the $700 million acquisition of Run:ai, an Israeli startup dealing in graphics processing unit (GPU) management software. The regulators have become wary of big-tech acquisitions leading to market monopolies and anti-competitive practices.
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The second probe investigates whether Nvidia used its dominant position to force cloud providers to purchase its products, and charged customers too much for networking gear in case they chose AI chips from competitors.
Nvidia has denied any wrongdoing and claimed it competes "based on decades of investment and innovation" while fully complying with the laws.
The probes come as Nvidia's dominance in AI chips drew the ire of global regulators. It could be hit with French antitrust charges over alleged anti-competitive practices and has faced probes by US, EU, and UK regulators over its AI-focused business dealings.
