NVIDIA is accused of antitrust actions with AI GPUs by the US Justice Department

The US Department of Justice is charging NVIDIA with antitrust charges over the company’s tactics to sell or lease its GPUs for artificial intelligence and networking equipment for servers.

According to The Information, the complaint came from a group of customers interested in AI GPUs — not from Jensen Huang’s company’s main competitors in the industry. The site also indicates that they are pressuring cloud customers to buy “multiple products.”

One of the biggest complaints is that NVIDIA charges more for its server infrastructure products—especially networking gear—if customers buy AI accelerators from competitors (AMD or Intel). Some customers have a preference for the price of the hardware or are uncomfortable with the wait time for NVIDIA GPUs.

In addition, it is also being investigated whether NVIDIA makes a contract that commits customers to purchasing multiple generations of products (Ampere, Hopper and the future Blackwell) or forces them to buy a “complete package” – which involves not only the GPUs, but also the server system and network equipment.

Another possible aspect of the investigation could be the “bundling” of these accelerator cards in conjunction with software and services produced by the team. However, the Department of Justice did not provide information about what it analyzed and new data may be released in the future.

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Impact on NVIDIA

Recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren and US progressives have been calling for a Justice Department investigation into NVIDIA’s actions within the AI ​​GPU industry – which may have prompted antitrust charges.

Members of the government agency also contacted companies such as AMD and Intel, gathering information about the complaints. The claim is that the “green” company has 80% of the GPU market for artificial intelligence – with AMD and Intel only getting what “overflows” from the manufacturer’s capacity.

NVIDIA saw its shares fall 3.6% on Friday morning (2), but guarantees that it will collaborate with the investigations.

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Fonte: TechPowerUp