DoJ probes NVIDIA?
September 9, 2024
The US Department of Justice DoJ is “intervening early” to explore whether a handful of big techs are unfairly dominating the AI market, according to a report in The WSJ.
According to the paper, targets of the early stage probe include the chip maker NVIDIA which is said to “own” more than 80 per cent of the AI market. The DoJ apparently wants to discuss the terms of its contracts and partnerships. NVIDIA’s market cap was already down almost $0.5 trillion in the days before the report (down from a high in June that had made it the world’s most valuable company).
The latest inquiry is alongside an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched in January into Generative AI investments by the likes of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and their partnerships.
Meanwhile, the FT reports that it is cheaper to rent cloud services that use NVIDIA’s AI chips in China than it is in the US. It said this is “a sign that the advanced processors are easily reaching the Chinese market despite Washington’s export restrictions”.