Nvidia faces scrutiny of DOJ antitrust probe: report

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) faces scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice over possible antitrust issues related to the planned acquisition of startup Run:ai, according to a report Thursday evening by Politico.

Nvidia announced the proposed acquisition of Israel-based Run:ai in April. Run:ai makes AI chips more efficient by enabling multiple workloads to run in parallel, reducing the number of GPUs needed to complete tasks.

The DOJ is also investigating Nvidia’s business practices as the company has as much as 90% of the high-end AI chip market, according to Politico, which cited five unnamed sources who have direct knowledge of the situation. Apparently, Nvidia might hold too much power in the AI stack, prompting a look by antitrust regulators.

Nvidia said it will provide regulators with any information they might need.

“We’ll continue to support aspiring innovators in every industry and market and are happy to provide any information regulators need,” a Nvidia spokesperson said to Seeking Alpha.

“NVIDIA wins on merit, as reflected in our benchmark results and value to customers,” they added. “We compete based on decades of investment and innovation, scrupulously adhering to all laws, making NVIDIA openly available in every cloud and on-prem for every enterprise, and ensuring that customers can choose whatever solution is best for them.”

Last week, the Calcalist reported Nvidia’s $700M acquisition of Run:ai was being held up by a lengthy regulatory review.

During the same month Nvidia announced its plans to acquire Run:ai, it also made moves to acquire Deci, another Israel-based startup, which modifies AI models to run more efficiently.

On July 23, the Federal Trade Commission released a joint statement with the DOJ, Antitrust Division, along with European regulators regarding competition in generative AI foundation models and products.

“All four antitrust enforcers pledged in the joint statement to remain vigilant for potential competition issues and expressed their determination to use available powers to safeguard against tactics that would undermine fair competition or lead to unfair or deceptive practices in the AI ecosystem,” the FTC said in a statement.