Nvidia is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to claims by competitors that the company is using antitrust practices to gain and maintain its dominant position in the AI GPU market. The Nvidia antitrust accusations include claims that Nvidia has threatened to penalize customers and charge higher prices for networking gear if customers buy products from competitors – claims that Nvidia firmly denies.
As a maker of GPUs that dominate our best graphics card guide, gamers might think the bulk of these accusations are a reflection of its actions in this sector. However, this particular investigation centers on its activities in the far more lucrative AI GPU sector, where Nvidia currently acts as the market leader.
The news comes from The Information via Reuters, who report that U.S. officials have reached out to the likes of AMD and other AI chip startups to gather information about the allegations. It’s not clear where the initial complaints have appeared from, but the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren and other US progressive groups have recently pressured the DOJ to launch an investigation. The DOJ has yet to publicly state anything, though.
The report claims DOJ investigators are looking at whether Nvidia pressured cloud AI providers “to buy multiple products.” Plus, it’s looking into whether Nvidia charges customers more for networking products if they want to buy AI chips from rivals as AMD and Intel.
In response to questions from Reuters, Nvidia stated that “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.”
Nvidia is also facing a similar antitrust investigation in France which is focusing on the concerns over Nvidia’s CUDA programming software being required to use the company’s dominant AI GPUs. Nvidia’s investment in AI-focused cloud service providers, such as CoreWeave, is also a factor.
This could all make for quite the setback for Nvidia if both or either antitrust investigation does find the company is at fault but, for gamers, the overall situation isn’t likely to change too much. Neither investigation is focusing on the gaming GPU side of the company so we’ll still be relying on competition from AMD Radeon and Intel Arc to keep the company on its toes.
For more on what we are expecting from all three companies with their future graphics card offerings, check out our latest coverage regarding the AMD RDNA 4, Intel Arc Battlemage, and Nvidia Blackwell architectures.
