According to sources, Nvidia's EU antitrust business policies draw attention.

IMG Credit: PIXABAY

Dec 6 BRUSSELS, Dec 6 Reuters - If the U.S. artificial intelligence chipmaker bundles its products that may give it an unfair advantage, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, EU antitrust regulators are asking Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab rivals and customers if the U.S. artificial intelligence chipmaker bundles its products that may give it an unfair advantage, in a move that may lead to a formal investigation.

With an 84% market share, Nvidia, which has almost a monopoly, far ahead of rivals Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab and AMD (AMD.O), has lately attracted regulatory scrutiny from authorities in the European Union, the United States, the UK, China and South Korea.
Customers engaged in generative artificial intelligence and accelerated computing for its chips have shown great demand for the firm.

According to sources, the European Commission lately sent out questionnaires asking whether Nvidia's graphics processing unit (GPU) products have any commercial and technical tying with other devices. The paper stands apart from another pertaining to Nvidia's intended purchase of artificial intelligence startup Run:ai.
According to the sources, the EU competition enforcer is interested in learning how Nvidia markets its GPU products to different clients as well as whether the contracts call for purchasing networking equipment with GPU.
The Commission refrained to say anything.

Nvidia said: "We compete on merit generally and support customer choice. Our products can stand alone and are best-in-class. Open industry standards are something we support so that our partners and consumers may use our goods in a great range of systems and configurations."


Usually part of the watchdog's fact-finding process, such questionnaires help to strengthen first suspicions. Companies fines resulting from EU antitrust violations can equal 10% of their worldwide annual turnover.
Other sources told Reuters earlier this year that the French antitrust regulator is already looking at Nvidia and ready to accuse the firm with charges.